Arnaud Labbe received a contract from the French Cofidis team. The former Bouygues Telecom rider was racing as an amateur this season. Cofidis lost Jean Eudes Demaret and Tony Gallopin due to injury for a longer period of time. Labbe will fill the gap, according to radsportnews.com.
The Cofidis team already needed to cancel its appearance at the Scheldeprijs last week, due to a lack of riders. This was bad news for Jens Keukeleire, who is on fire. The Belgian sprinter already won the GP Samyn, the Nokere Koerse and a stage plus the overall in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. Keukeleire will race Paris-Roubaix this Sunday.
Labbe started his professional career in 2005 with the Auber 93 squad before moving to Bouygues Telecom in 2006. He stayed there until 2009, but was forced to switch to amateur racing for 2010.
Demaret is sidelined due to Crohn's disease, which he caught while in Africa for the Tropicale Amissa Bongo (January 19-24).
Gallopin had a knee surgery and is expected to race again end of May or beginning of June.