Cycling: The French team Ag2r - Citroën has improved significantly in the past two years. It seems that lessons have been learned from a weak 2020.
Ag2r – Citroën made the right personnel decisions
When the Ag2r – Citroën team was one of the weakest WorldTour teams at the end of 2020 and then also had to give up Romain Bardet and Pierre Latour, the future looked anything but rosy. But the French team proved all the critics wrong. Now, two years later, Ag2r - Citroën is in better shape than it has been for a long time. The team looks back on two very successful years. 2022 could above all Benoit Cosnefroy take a step forward. The now 27-year-old won the Quebec GP and was only just beaten in the Amstel Gold Race. Other guarantees of success were this season Bob jungels with a stage win in the Tour de France and Ben O'Connor with a stage win in the Tour of Catalonia.
Only talent joins the team
After the last few successful years, Ag2r - Citroën seems to have finally found its way. Based on this year's transfer period, we can also see that the team management wants to focus primarily on French talent. With Pierre Gautherat, Bastien Tronchon and Alex Baudin three very young drivers join the team. They will probably not be able to ensure success in their first year. And with Bob Jungels, Lilian Calmejane and three other drivers, important professionals are leaving the team. Ag2r - Citroën has not really improved at first glance. In the long term, however, the path we have taken could be exactly the right one. In order to keep the successful time alive, the stars of the team - by name Ben O'Connor, Benoit Cosnefroy, Greg van Avermaet and Oliver naesen - but also deliver. In addition, another step in the development of drivers like Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Marc Sarreau and Clement Venturini provided.