“We all know the situation with Peter Sagan and TotalEnergies and we don’t want to do that" - Cofidis boss on Julian Alaphilippe transfer rumours

Where exactly Julian Alaphilippe's future lies remains unknown, despite concrete interest from a number of teams and a seeming guarantee that the Frenchman will leave Soudal - Quick-Step and Patrick Lefevere's public barbs.

Frontrunners for the former world champion's signature seem to be either TotalEnergies or Cofidis. Speaking to GCN however, Cofidis boss Cedric Vasseur insists his team won't sign Alaphilippe unless he can still compete with the best, citing his rival team as a warning for what can happen when you sign aging stars who are past their best.

“We all know the situation with Peter Sagan and TotalEnergies and we don’t want to do that with someone else. It’s why I don't want to go too fast with Julian. I really respect him. If I start a discussion with him it means that we want to go until the end. I don’t want to him to lose time with us,” Vasseur tells GCN. “We want to be sure because we’re in a situation where we can’t make any mistakes in 2025. We can’t be in the position of FDJ and say if Julian cannot bring in success then it’s not a problem because others can. If we take Julian then he will have to perform in order to bring us between 2,000 and 2,500 points. I’m not sure at this moment that he can do that. I don’t want to sign him because I appreciate and respect him. I want to sign riders who can bring good results to the team and show that Cofidis still has a place in the UCI WorldTour."

“In an interview, I said Julian was a champion, not just a rider, and I really respect him. As a team manager, I would be delighted to work with him but we didn’t really talk seriously until now. If there’s an interest and he’s still showing something in the Tour de Romandie we would go on the market but for this moment we’re still… We don’t want to sign Alaphilippe for the name,” he continues. “We want to sign Alaphilippe for what he can give to the team. At this moment he’s facing a hard time so we wait for a bit and of course, we don’t want him to come to Cofidis as a retirement home."