Rui Costa has signed with Lampre-Merida to get a chance to chase personal success in the Tour de France and the team has already started to put together the roster that will support in the French race. New team manager Brent Copeland is convinced that the world champion has what it takes to make it onto the final podium in Paris.

After several seasons riding in the shadow of stars like Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, world champion Rui Costa has taken a step into the unknown, taking on a leadership role on the Lampre-Merida team. From the very beginning, the Portuguese has been very clear in stating what he wants to obtain: he wants to finish as high as possible in the Tour de France.

Lampre-Merida has had a couple of disappointing performances in the world's biggest bike race and was attracted by the idea of signing a rider that was capable of finishing near the top of the GC. The match was a perfect one and the new contract was announced in August.

The team has already started to plan its 2014 campaign, with new manager Brent Copeland meeting the team's six captains last week. Costa, Diego Ulissi, Damiano Cunego, Filippo Pozzato, Sacha Modolo and Roberto Ferrari put together the initial pieces in their racing schedules while also drawing up the first sketches of the rosters that will support them in their major races.

Last week, it emerged that Costa will target the Paris-Nice and the Ardennes classics in the first part of the season but that his major target is the Tour de France. Copeland thinks that the world champion is fully capable of claiming a podium spot in the biggest race of them all.

“It’s possible,” he told VeloNews. “If you look at the course the Tour organizer put together next year … he’s not a cobbled rider but out of the GC riders he goes better than others do. Then if you look at what he did in the Tour de Suisse and at the Tour de France this year … If you build a team around him, he’s capable of doing it.”

Costa has long shown in potential in weeklong stage races, having won the Tour de Suisse and finished on the podium in the Tour de Romandie twice in a row. However, he has mostly be left to chase stage victories in the grand tours, claiming one victory in the 2011 edition of the Tour and two wins this year. He has only had the chance to target the GC once: last year when he finished 18th after taking over the responsibility from Valverde.

Despite the lack of previous GC results, Copeland is convinced that Costa has the potential to finish among the best.

“He wasn’t given as much space as he needed at team Movistar because of the riders that they had there. We haven’t seen his true potential and there’s definitely a margin of improvement,” Copeland said. 

People have been critical of Costa's choice of team, claiming that he won't have a strong team around him. Admitting that the team will not have to bear the main responsibility in the race, Copeland is convinced that Costa will have the support he needs.

“We are meeting to work out what men will race, but we have capable men," he said. "Przemyslaw Niemec, who finished sixth at the Giro this year, José Serpa, who didn’t show his true colors this year because of illness and injury, but at the Tour this year he rode better and better … he was in the front group. He can help. Nelson Oliveira, who’s coming with Costa, is there to help. Rafael Valls, the Spanish rider,” Copeland said.

“For the cobbled stages we have good riders to protect him, for the mountains stages he can rely on the team we give him and then he can work off the other riders in the race. The responsibility doesn’t have to be on us completely.”

Costa will largely follow the same calendar as he did in 2013, with the addition of a few RCS races being important to the Italian fans. He may ride the new Dubai Tour and could go for the win in the new and harder Milan-Sanremo.