Cofidis manager criticizes departing Zingle: "Fetching water bottles for Wout van Aert instead of being leader"

Cofidis is losing a golden boy with Axel Zingle. The French puncheur is leaving for Visma | Lease a Bike, and the 25-year-old rider's departure hits general manager Cédric Vasseur hard. He would have liked to keep his pupil on his team longer, but now he can't resist giving one more kick.

In conversation with Cyclism'Actu, Vasseur talks about Zingle's departure. "We wanted to talk to him very early in the season, in January, but he postponed the talks," says the Frenchman. "Maybe he had already signed for his new team, that's possible. We felt Axel Zingle was dropping momentum at the beginning of the year; he seemed lost. We even had to change his program and remove him from our plan for the Flemish classics. He had to defend the colors of Cofidis there, but it didn't work out."

"He wanted to start another project," the manager continued. He doesn't understand Zingle's move. "At Cofidis, he was guaranteed to be a leader. I'm not sure this will be the case at Visma. But yes, it's a career choice. Maybe in a year or two, Axel will be able to say that he made the right choice, or maybe not: that he should have stayed as leader instead of going after the water bottles for Wout van Aert." Before his transfer, Zingle was almost sanctioned: he would not be selected for the Tour de France. In the end, he did start in Florence.

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Aranburu and Teuns must make up for Zingle's departure

The arrival of Alex Aranburu will compensate for the French sprinter's departure. "Alex Aranburu is a fantastic rider. He is offensive, which is the image I want of the Cofidis riders in 2025. We looked for a rider who almost guaranteed us a top 20 or 30. He arrived with this status, and that's what we were looking for. Because this year, we didn't have a rider capable of that."

Dylan Teuns is also brought in. He comes over from Israel - Premier Tech. "He was outstanding again this year in the classics. He can compete with riders like Mathieu van der Poel, but our current team doesn't have that. He will play a significant role in all the Belgian classics, in his blood and DNA." Teuns' results this year included eighth in the Tour of Flanders and second in the Brabantse Pijl.