The Cofidis team has been forced to reiterate its confidence in bike and wheel suppliers Look and Corima, after less than complimentary comments by rider Guillaume Martin about his team bike.
Martin told French media outlet Le Monde that he refused to use a computer or a power meter as his bike was heavy enough already: "Our bikes weigh 7.7kg, a kilo more than the allowed limit," he said. "I don’t want to make my bike even heavier with a bike computer of 200 grams."
But the French team leapt to the defence of its Look 795 Blade RS machine, and wheel supplier Corima, insisting that the bikes were designed with input from its riders. The team says that the weight "is not the only performance factor" and should in fact not be more than 7.4kg – which it claims is "a measurement slightly below the average of the bikes of the best riders in the peloton."
The lower weight limit for bikes in UCI races is 6.8kg.
The bikes, it adds feature "cutting-edge equipment developed by our partners' engineers, offering a stiffness/aerodynamics/weight ratio approved by our riders for over a year.
"We are convinced that these performances have allowed us and will allow us to compete with our competitors," it says.
It concluded: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners and especially the LOOK Cycle and CORIMA brands for their trust and the involvement of their teams who work alongside us to develop the best equipment for our riders."
Presumably, while all of this was being written, Guillaume Martin was receiving something of a talking to about the dos and the don'ts of talking to the media.
The 31-year-old, whose contract with the team runs out at the end of the year, finished 13th on GC as the highest placed French rider, and with a best stage placing of sixth at Superdévoluy on stage 17.
Perhaps Martin was talking out of frustration at not being able to finish higher up the overall classification – which has he done in four of his eight Tour participations, including last year, when he was 10th. Or perhaps he was simply unwittingly indiscreet, too tired after a hard Tour to choose his words more wisely.
We may never know, but one thing is more sure – he's unlikely to do it again.
