Fans, observers and media pundits were caught by surprise by Rui Costa’s choice to depart with the only Spanish WorldTour team, Movistar, to join the troubled Italian team Lampre-Merida at the end of the 2013 season.

While Movistar enjoyed almost unparalleled success during the recently concluded season, the Italian outfit found it a lot more difficult to put together a string of consecutive performances at a certain level.

There are at least three very valid reasons why Costa’s surprise move makes sense, though. As far as the Lampre company is concerned, Portugal constitutes an important market and Costa will play a key role as the company tries to exploit his popularity to increase its market share.

With regards to the team, Lampre-Merida entered into discussions with Rui Costa instantly after this year’s Tour de France, and team manager Giuseppe Saronni explained that Costa’s impressive total of UCI points made the Portuguese a particularly alluring acquisition at that time. Since then Costa has, of course, added the world road race championship to his 2013 list of victories, which has hardly given Saronni any reasons to regret his signing of Costa.

“The rationale is this: to present Rui Costa as the Lampre-Merida team leader in the Tour de France. He’s a versatile rider and he’ll also be a protagonist in the Ardennes Classics, for example,” Saronni told Gazzetta dello Sport once the parties had put pen to paper.

For the Lampre-Merida team the 2013 season proved to be largely unsuccessful as the Italian outfit struggled to live up to their own expectations and bringing Costa on their books will not only guarantee the team’s continued status as a WorldTour team but also looks destined to provide them with a haul of wins in the 2014 season.

As for the rider, Costa knows that, in stark contrast to his situation at Movistar, he will enjoy undisputed team leadership in the Tour de France and the opportunity to pursue his own chances in other key races, mainly the Ardennes Classics.

"Many were surprised by my decision to join Lampre-Merida but in fact it was a rather easy decision to make. It's a team that is perfectly suited to me," Costa told Cyclingquotes. “Joining the Lampre-Merida team allows me to handpick the races I would like to ride as a leader of a team and it will also provide me with additional time to grow as a team leader.”

Handpicking races in accordance with his own wishes and ambitions includes a certain race in France, Costa pointed out when talking to Cyclingquotes at the presentation of the 2014 Tour de France route. In the short term Costa doesn’t aim for the overall win in the Grande Boucle. Instead, he explained, he would seek to gradually adjust to the requirements of a Grand Tour and only go for the general classification once he has gained further experience.

“That [selecting the races he wants to race] includes the Tour de France, which is quite essential to me. I really like the Tour and want to test myself over three weeks. I think I can do something. I'm not claiming that I can take the yellow jersey next year, but I'd like to try in the future. I know I can be victorious in undulating one-day Classics and week-long stages races. Who knows? In the future I might be able to go for the general classification in Grand Tours."

Rui Costa chose to agree to a one-year contract with Lampre-Merida rather than the customary three-year deal, knowing that such an approach would mean added pressure on him to deliver results in his first season with the Italian squad.

“The easiest thing is just to sign for three years,” Costa explained.  “Such a deal guarantees the rider a good contract, it provides a certain amount of safety and it eases off the pressure, but I don’t agree with that mentality. A one-year contract gives added incentives to perform well right from the go and this applies to both the rider and the team.”

Costa’s 2014 race itinerary is still to be revealed but it seems inevitable that the Portuguese will spearhead the Italian team in the Tour de France.