Published August 20, 2001 01:00AM
By VeloNews Interactive wire services, Copyright AFP2001
Tour de France prologue winner Christophe Moreau on Monday joined his old Festina teammate Florent Brard and inked a two-year contract with France’s Crédit Agricole squad.
Australian Stuart O’Grady and American Jonathan Vaughters had earlier extended their contracts with the team.
The 30-year-old Moreau, who has rebounded from serving a six months drug suspension for his part in the 1998 Festina drugs scandal to win this year’s Tour prologue. He had finished fourth overall in 2000.
O’Grady, who barely missed winning the Tour de France’s green jersey for points this year after he was nipped by five-time winner Erik Zabel (Telekom) is among a number of riders to put pen to paper.
Vaughters confirmed the deal on Monday, saying that his own contract extends “until Crédit Agricole’s sponsorship runs out in 2003.”
According to the French newspaper L’Equipe, O’Grady, Vaughters, Norwegian Thor Hushovd and Frenchman Anthony Morin have all extended their current deals.
The team has also signed Brard, a promising French rider who, like Moreau, ends his association with Festina, which is pulling out of cycling at the end of the year.
Brard, the 25-year-old French time trial champion who recently completed his first Tour de France, signed a two-year contract on Sunday.
Copyright AFP2001