2008 Teams Preview Part 1: Ag2r through Cofidis

Over the next few weeks, I'll be profiling all of the ProTour and Pro Continental Teams. In this first installment, I will be discussing Ag2r, Astana, Bouygues Telecom, Caisse d'Epargne, and Cofidis.

Ag2r-La Mondiale

French
Sponsors: Ag2r and La Mondiale are both insurance companies
Team Manager: Vincent Lavenu (France)
Key Rider: Jean Patrick-Nazon; the French sprinter has won stages in the Tour in the past, and is a good finisher.
Depth: 2/10; The loss of Christophe Moreau to the Pro Continental outfit Agritubel has left Ag2r without any real GC contender. Although they signed seven new riders, none of them are going to be more then team helpers for Nazon.
2007 Season: 7/10; Moreau's fighting win in le Dauphine Libere more than made up for their relative anonymity for the rest of the season.
Expectations: Some stage wins in French races; a stage in the Tour would be the highlight of their season.

Astana

Kazakh
Sponsor: Astana is a consortium of Kazakh businesses
Team Manager: Johan Bruyneel (Belgium)
Key Riders: Alberto Contador, the defending Tour champion; Levi Leipheimer, third at last year's Tour and a serious contender this year as well; Janez Brajkovic, winner of last year's Tour de Georgia and a major player in the 2006 Vuelta; Andreas Kloden, twice a podium finisher at the Tour, and , although his form and luck have been erratic, he is one of the best in the world on his day.
Depth: 9/10; Bruyneel has taken the best riders from Discovery Channel and brought them to Astana. The one missing piece of the puzzle is a top class sprinter, although Bruyneel didn't seem to worry about that at Discovery either.
2007 Season: 0/10, the team essentially collapsed mid-Tour when Vinokourov was kicked out and they pretty much did nothing for the rest of the season.
Expectations: Nothing less than a Tour win will satisfy Bruyneel or the sponsors, and they certainly have the team to do it.

Bouygues Telecom

French
Sponsor: French mobile phone company
Team Manager: Jean-René Bernaudeau (France)
Key Riders: Thomas Voeckler, wore the maillot jaune for 10 stages in 2004, won the GP Ouest France - Plouay last year; Pierrick Fedrigo, who was French Champion in 2005 and won a stage in the 2006 Tour.
Depth: 3/10, slightly better than Ag2r, but nowhere near the top level of teams in the ProTour
2007 Season: 4/10; their saving grace was Voeckler's win in Plouay, it was their only ProTour win of the year.
Expectations: Win....something?

Caisse d'Epargne

Spanish
Sponsor: French (yes, French) bank
Team Manager: José Miguel Echavarri (Spain)
Key Riders: Alejandro Valverde, beat Lance Armstrong to the summit of Courchevel in 2005, finished 2nd in the 2006 Vuelta; Vladimir Karpets, Best Young Rider of the 2004 Tour and winner of last year's Tour de Suisse; Jose Rujano, a one-trick pony so far, but what a trick it was, King of the Mountains, 3rd overall, and a stage win in the 2005 Giro d'Italia; Oscar Pereiro, winner of the 2006 Tour de France.
Depth: 8/10, this is one of a few teams which will seriously challenge Astana in the Grand Tours. This is the year when Valverde has to win his first of the same, or there will be serious doubts as to whether he can live up to the hype of being the next Miguel Indurain or Luis Ocana.
2007 Season: 7/10, a very good season for many teams, but for a strong GC team like Caisse d'Epargne to fail to contend in any of the Grand Tours was a huge disappointment.
Expectations: A Grand Tour win for Valverde and a strong showing in all three Grand Tours.

Cofidis

French
Team Manager: Eric Boyer (France)
Key Riders: David Moncoutie, twice a stage winner in the Tour, King of the Mountains in last year's Paris-Nice;
Nick Nuyens, a strong rider in the early season classics, winner of the 2006 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Depth: 4/10, some strong riders, but no one who really threatens for big wins at all.
2007 Season: 5/10, an average season for an average team; Wiggins' prologue win in the Dauphine and Duque's stage in the Vuelta were the high points.
Expectations: A stage in one of the Grand Tours, miscellaneous wins in French races.

That's Part 1, I'll be back in a few days with Part 2 (Credit Agricole, CSC, Euskaltel, FdJeux, and Gerolsteiner).