Cofidis manager Eric Boyer has confirmed that David Moncoutié has extended his contract with the French team for another year, according to Belga. The Parisian is currently riding the Vuelta a España where he leads the mountains classification, which he is on course to win for a third successive year.
Moncoutié has ridden his entire professional career with Boyer’s team, joining as a 21-year-old neo-pro on the team’s inception in 1997. As a climber he was touted by the French press as a potential Tour de France winner; he finished 13th in the 2002 race but has been unable to match that result since, instead he has concentrated on stage victories and chasing mountains jerseys.
He has so far taken two stages in the Tour and three in the Vuelta, including stage 8 of this year’s race; in addition to his two, going on three, Vuelta mountains jerseys he has twice won the mountains competition in Paris-Nice.
Like fellow Parisian, the late Laurent Fignon, Moncoutié is regarded as something of an eccentric. Although he was a climber he famously continued to live in Paris to be close to his girlfriend, allegedly training on the streets and cycle paths of the French capital. It was also alleged that, unlike virtually all racing cyclists, he was unable to put on a rain jacket without stopping to put his foot down.
The 35-year-old is also renowned for being a totally clean cyclist, and relies on the use of homeopathy.
The securing of Moncoutié for another season should help in the cause of the Cofidis team as it applies for the reinstatement of its ProTour license. The team had held a license since the series’ inception in 2005 but, along with compatriot Bbox Bouygues Telecom was deemed less worthy than new teams RadioShack and Sky in the distribution of licenses this year.