Christophe Le Mevel steps down to a professional continental side, Team Cofidis for 2013 season
After having two quite seasons with Team Garmin-Cervelo, Christophe Le Mevel has decided to end his associations with the American team.
The all-rounder will now be seen in Team Cofidis colours for the season ahead and he is optimistic for his improved performance in the year ahead.
Mevel marked his professional debut with Team Credit Agricole in 2002 and spent a long period of seven years with his first professional team.
He helped the team with several outstanding performances early on his career, including a stage 16 win at the Giro d’Italia 2005 and a second overall finish at the Paris-Correze.
The French joined Team Francaise des Jeux in 2009 and impress the team management with his tenth overall finish at the Tour de France 2009 and a first overall spot at the Tour du Haut Var 2010 along with a stage victory at the race.
He was approached by Jonathan Vaughters to join his team in 2011 and the cyclist was more than happy to ride with the World Tour side, Team Garmin-Cervelo in 2011.
Mevel could not really help the American team during his two-year stay and his only admirable performances include a ninth place at the La Fleche Wallonne 2011 and a fourth overall finish at the Clasica de San Sebastian 2012.
Team Garmin-Sharp decided to exclude Christophe from the Tour de France squad for both the past seasons which is the main reason why the cyclist has decided to try his luck in a different team for the 2013 season.
"This year, I was satisfied too but I couldn't do all the races I wanted to do in the early part of the year, so it was a bit difficult for me at the start of this season,” he told Cyclingnews.
“I was one of the disappointed and it's true to say that I was very disappointed," he concluded.
Moving from a World Tour team to a Professional Continental team was definitely a bitter pill to swallow for the French man but he made his priorities clear.
"It's certain that as a Frenchman in a team like Garmin, I would really, really like to have been at the Tour de France," Le Mével said diplomatically.
"But when a team makes its selection for the Tour, there are those who are happy and those who are disappointed”.
Despite his deteriorated performance in the 2012 season, Mevel still managed to chip in useful UCI points for the team.
Team Garmin-Sharp is currently at the ninth overall position with a total number of 694 UCI points to its credit.
Ryder Hesjedal (237), Andrew Talansky (145), Daniel Martin (132), Heinrich Haussler (70) and Le Mevel (40) made the highest contributions to ensure that the team stays in top-ten.
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