EF Education-EasyPost

Richard Carapaz

Alberto Bettiol

Ben Healy

Marijn van den Berg

Neilson Powless

Simon Carr

Stefan Bissegger

Merhawi Kudus

Magnus Cort

Hugh Carthy

Alexander Cepeda

Jonathan Caicedo

Rigoberto Uran

Owain Doull

Odd Christian Eiking

Jonas Rutsch

Mikkel Honore

Esteban Chaves

James Shaw

Georg Steinhauser

Stefan de Bod

Diego Camargo

Jardi Van Der Lee

Sean Quinn

Andrea Piccolo

Jens Keukeleire

Julius van den Berg

Lukasz Wisniowski

Andrey Amador

Thomas Scully

Mark Padun

General

News

General News

Lachlan Morton's Tour Divide film is a hit at London premiere

Lachlan Morton has become one the sport's most popular riders through his off-road conquests in recent years

"I would say the most challenging moments on this ride were down to being hypothermic," chuckles a nonchalant Lachlan Morton in front of a sold-out crowd in west London. The Australian is in fine spirits as he answers the questions put forward by the audience following 

's first film screening in the team's long history. 

Morton is the subject of the evening's entertainment at the Fulham Road Picturehouse, with the spotlight shone on his recent escapades between Canada and Mexico via the United States of America. 

Back in early September, Morton completed 

 in record-breaking time, and his brother Angus Morton was there with a committed film crew to capture it all in a new 65-minute film called 'The Divide'. 

Lachlan Morton, with a spoke in his derailleur, breaks Great Divide record

"There were a few moments within it that were tough," Angus says honestly about his experience. "Because it is a strange thing: you see a storm, you’re watching this person make a very bad decision and you know it - but you just have to watch them ride into it. You wonder, at what point do I switch from just observing this thing to stepping in?"

As Morton's older brother alludes to, the Great Divide was a feat of human achievement and, although the Australian's record-breaking time will not officially surpass the late Mike Hall's Fastest Known Time – due to the accompaniment of a film crew – Morton's effort was completely self-supported and saw him ride 4,299 kilometres in 12 days, 12 hours and 21 minutes. 

Such was the feat of the task ahead that, for the first time since Morton joined EF, the team invited Angus Morton's filmmaking company 

 to follow the journey and produce the team's first feature-length film. London was given the honour of hosting the first of three showings this week, with the film tour rolling on to Stockholm on Tuesday before concluding in Morton's adopted home of Boulder, Colorado on Friday evening. 

Lachlan Morton announces a three-stop tour for ‘The Divide’ film

'The last resort was going naked in a sleeping bag,' admits Morton of extraordinary adventure 

The night in London ends with a foyer mingle between the Mortons and those in attendance, which is rather fitting given the personal and intimate nature of the film. Angus Morton was clear in his objective: to portray the magnitude of the journey and the deep sense of isolation for his younger brother along the way. 

In a film that is "a love letter to the landscape as much as it is to the effort", what has followed is a well-paced portrayal of Lachlan Morton's hardships, with conversations few and far between, but moments of suffering laid bare to the screen. 

"It’s funny to see and relive what were very intense personal moments," admits Morton. "There were a number of moments where if I had an out - like I had a car or something - I would have just got in, because I was genuinely afraid for my safety. But there was no real way out, the last resort was going naked in a sleeping bag and try to lie and wait for help!"

This particular answer draws a resounding cackle of laughter from the audience, a sound heard frequently throughout the showing as the audience becomes ever more astonished by the diet - or lack thereof - adopted by Morton across his ride. Pickles, milk and beer seemingly become his go-to items of choice, as 

 discovered in conversation with the team's nutritionist. 

Beer, milk, and pickles – the method to Lachlan Morton’s nutritional madness

Lachlan Morton's Cannondale Scalpel HT Hi-MOD Ultimate

Fuelled by this bizarre concoction of roadside treats and free hugs (you'll have to watch the film for this one), Morton nonetheless enjoyed a life-affirming experience riding from Banff to Antelope Wells, with the Grand Teton Mountains and a purple patch of form south of Steamboat Springs some of the many highlights revealed within the film. 

Alongside the lows of a lightning storm that had the 31-year-old fearing for his life, to the fleeting respite of gas station hand dryers, 

 is not without its many moments of joy, and the audience is all the more grateful to share in the experience.

 is met by a roar of applause and approval as the Morton brothers make their way to the front for a Q&A. The film is a triumph, or so those in attendance seem to think, both fans and fellow riders alike. 

Juan Antonio Flecha and Jonathan Vaughters amongst the crowd in London

Indeed, not only were many members of the Thereabouts film crew in the audience on Monday evening, but so too were EF Education-EasyPost team boss Jonathan Vaughters, ultra-endurance veteran Josh Ibbett and former WorldTour professional, Juan Antonio Flecha.

Ibbett and Vaughters are all smiles as they mingle with Angus Morton, whilst Flecha takes five minutes to offer up his thoughts on the film to  

"I absolutely loved it, I loved it," Flecha says with his trademark smile. "I think it’s been great to watch it in a cinema because the images are great, the story, the narrative, the sound, the change of pace, the landscapes are beautiful. They have done a great job, it has really inspired me. I flew in from Barcelona just to watch this! I saw it on EF’s social media and said ‘I’ve got to come!’

"It is fascinating and nice for cycling to have someone like Lachlan who enjoys his own path and whilst he is still fit enough to race WorldTour, his context is another one - it is fantastic. I would really encourage people to try these sorts of events," continues one of Spain's greatest ever Classics riders.

 that he would be racing Transiberica around the Iberian Peninsula in 2024. We dare say that the Spaniard won't be the only rider signing up for an ultra-endurance event next year after having watched 

 - a glorious homage to the joys of pushing the pedals. 

Racing

Analysis

EF Education-EasyPost Team Talk: A year of two halves but certain progress all the same

Ben Healy proved one of the sensations of the season for EF Education-EasyPost

Under the stewardship of Jonathan Vaughters, the Slipstream Sports organisation has been one of the most charismatic WorldTeams since the days of Garmin as the title sponsor. Fifteen years on from their first year as Garmin-Chipotle, 

 remain a popular squad who are often seen to be punching above their financial weight. 

The international education provider, Education First, joined the team in 2018 and it was in the following year that the EF Pro Cycling team first developed its unique personality. British clothing manufacturer 

 became their official kit supplier, which not only added outlandish designs to EF's arsenal, but also the acquisition of Lachlan Morton as part of the team's squad. 

Long sponsored by Rapha, the Australian would introduce a new approach to the team known as the alternative racing calendar, in which Morton would combine road racing with entries in a host of off-road adventures - including the GBDuro and the Leadville 100. From then on, Morton has become one of the team's most prized assets, despite stepping back from WorldTour competition. 

In his place, EF Education-EasyPost have smartly composed their line-ups over the past few seasons, often giving opportunities to young riders and those looking to prove themselves. At times, however, this has left them short on results and this was particularly apparent in 2022 when the American squad suffered through their worst season since 2018. 

In turn, Vaughters made waves across the peloton when EF Education-EasyPost landed the blockbuster signing of 

 at the end of 2022. His arrival was joined by that of 

, with the close friends expected to slot straight into the squad's plans for the Grand Tours. 

 podium finisher, was to propel EF Education-EasyPost back into the fight for Grand Tour titles - their last podium came through 

However, things did not quite go as expected for the Ecuadorian and EF Education-EasyPost instead had to look elsewhere for victories in 2023. In the end, it proved to be a season of two halves. 

EF Education-EasyPost started the year in fine fettle, regularly picking up wins throughout the first few months of the season. Former Tour of Flanders Alberto Bettiol winner got the ball rolling in the prologue of the Santos Tour Down Under, before Marijn van den Berg, Neilson Powless and Magnus Cort got in on the act in Spain, France and Portugal, respectively. 

A regular flow of wins defined the team in the absence of Richard Carapaz, who was training and recovering in Ecuador following dental issues. At both the Volta ao Algarve and Coppi e Bartali, EF Education-EasyPost walked away with multiple stage victories and the spring also brought the breakthrough of Irish star, Ben Healy. 

The 23-year-old had contributed to the win tally at Coppi e Bartali - a race in which EF Education-EasyPost remarkably placed riders in second, third and fourth - but it was at the subsequent GP Industria & Artigianato that Healy took his first one-day race win in EF colours. 

In the Ardennes Classics, Healy finished second at both De Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race, before taking fourth place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It was a period in which the Irishman lit up almost every race he competed in, making a name for himself as one of the peloton's most promising young climbers. 

Still only 22 at the time, Healy's dramatic rise came to its crescendo at the Giro d'Italia when he won stage 8 from a 196km-long breakaway. Following on from the Spring Classics, Healy was the aggressor and attacked alone with over 50km to ride. By the end of the stage, Healy had opened up a near-two minute gap to those chasing behind and claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory.

Healy's success at the Giro d'Italia was followed by that of Cort just two stages later, with the Dane taking what would be his last victory for EF Education-EasyPost before a winter move to Uno X Pro Cycling. 

The Giro d'Italia, however, would prove to be the highlight of the team's season, with EF struggling to recapture the same vein of form for the rest of the year. There would be victories in the second half, most notably Simon Carr's stage 5 and overall win at the Tour de Langkawi in September, but the team did receive the rub of the green in the last few months of the season. 

Stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne proved to be the team's last WorldTour win of the campaign, and at the Tour de France, Neilson Powless' spell in the polka-dot jersey would be their highlight. Carapaz suffered a race-ending crash on the opening stage, which would serve to marr their ambitions. 

His campaign was blighted by misfortune and only saw him truly come into his own at the Italian Classics, with podium finishes at both the Giro della Toscana and Tre Valli Varesine. 

To have taken 26 wins in the year is not to be sniffed at and is actually the most taken in a calendar year by the team since 2011, but quite a few of these came in national championships and the majority of them came in the first half of the season. That being said, a subpar final couple of months isn't the end of the world for a team with budget restraints, and the return to form of Carapaz in Italy will have certainly reassured management ahead of 2024.

EF Education-EasyPost's Top Five in 2024

EF Education-EasyPost have been very active in the transfer market for 2024, picking up most of their incomings not long after the window opened on August 1. Their two latest recruits, Yuhi Todome and Rui Costa, have rounded out their roster, but the summer saw the American outfit pick up a plethora of young talent. 

Japan's Yuhi Todome joins EF Education-EasyPost for 2024

Transfer mechanics: Age is just a number for Rui Costa

The team has squarely turned their eyes to the British Isles to unearth young gems in the form of Lukas Nerurkar (Trinity Racing), Jack Rootkin-Gray (Saint Piran), Archie Ryan (Jumbo-Visma Development Team) and Darren Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon). 

EF Education-EasyPost sign Irish talent Darren Rafferty

Big hopes will be placed in Rafferty especially, with the 20-year-old winning Giro della Valle d'Aosta and coming runner-up at the Giro Next Gen in his final year with Axel Merckx's squad. 

Elsewhere, the team has recalled Michael Valgren to the WorldTeam after a year spent recovering from a crash with the EF Education-NIPPO Development Team. He will be joined by new teammates Harry Sweeny (Lotto Dstny), Jardi Christiaan van der Lee (Willebrord Wil Vooruit) and Markel Beloki (MMR Cycling Academy) in 2024. 

In terms of outgoings, the team will bid a fond farewell to Magnus Cort, who fancies a new challenge with Scandinavian outfit, Uno X. Julius van den Berg will be moving to Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, whilst Jens Keukeleire has retired and both Jonathan Caicedo and Diego Camargo have made the switch to Mexican outfit, Petrolike. 

Where EF Education-EasyPost's wins will come in 2024

There are no two ways about it, Richard Carapaz is the team's flagship rider for 2024. The Ecuadorian national champion showed signs at the end of the year that his run of bad luck may be over, and at the top of his game, there is confidence within the team that Carapaz can compete for glory once more in the Grand Tours, as team boss Vaughters told 

Richard Carapaz: I’m starting from zero but the Tour de France is my ambition

Of course, it won't all be about Carapaz in 2024 and as Vaughters acknowledged, there are plenty of other members of the squad who must be given the opportunity to chase their own targets. Indeed, Neilson Powless, Ben Healy and Simon Carr are all talented climbers in their own rights, who should be expected to add multiple victories apiece. 

Whilst their returns have diminished in recent years, so too should Esteban Chaves, Hugh Carthy and Rigoberto Urán. The latter will be riding his final year as a professional before retirement and will be hoping to go out with a bang, whilst Carthy and Chaves are both in contract years, so should be more than motivated to return to their winning ways of old. 

Rigoberto Urán will go out with a bang and not a whimper, says Jonathan Vaughters

New signing Rui Costa has certainly proven with Intermarché-Circus-Wanty that he simply ages like a fine wine and can continue to win stages in the Grand Tours. As a team that likes to put on a show, EF Education-EasyPost seems like the perfect place for Costa to spend the last period of his career, but don't expect the former world champion to be the most cooperative of breakaway compatriots. The old fox continues to teach the youngsters of the peloton a new trick or two. 

EF Education-EasyPost would be delighted to see some of their other fresh recruits pick up wins in 2024, but there will be no pressure on them to succeed straightaway. Instead, the team can turn to established pros like Alberto Bettiol, Stefan Bissegger and Marijn van den Berg to chip in with the occasional victory next season. 

EF Education-EasyPost's next breakout rider 

EF Education-EasyPost have 11 riders aged 24 or under heading into 2024, which should be applauded. The American team regularly gives opportunities to young riders that possibly would not be afforded to them elsewhere. Within this environment, we have seen the likes of Ben Healy, Marijn van den Berg and Simon Carr flourish in recent years. 

As such, the team's new signings for 2024 should certainly be full of optimism and will no doubt have taken this into the equation when choosing who to sign for ahead of next season. We could have picked any number of them as our tip to be the breakout rider of 2024, but it is Darren Rafferty who is perhaps the most promising at the time of writing. 

The 20-year-old Irishman is a talented climber who enjoyed a stellar 2023 campaign and was rewarded with the attention of long-term suitors, EF Education-EasyPost. A versatile rider, Rafferty has not only impressed in stage races, but one-day races as well. 

The Hagens Berman Axeon rider finished fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 in April and won Strade Bianche di Romagna last season. 

At the Giro della Valle d'Aosta, Rafferty beat the likes of Alexy Faure Prost (soon-to-be Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Isaac del Toro (soon-to-be UAE Team Emirates) to the title, and we wouldn't be surprised to see the youngster find himself on the podium of one of the non-WorldTour stage races in 2024. 

This is a talent to be watched, of that there is no doubt. 

What do you think about EF Education-EasyPost's 2023 campaign? And do you expect Richard Carapaz to compete for a Grand Tour win in 2024? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Race News

Richard Carapaz is ready for 2024 after a chaotic 2023 season 

 (EF Education-EasyPost) is eyeing a return to the Tour de France in 2024 with the Olympic champion confident that he can challenge for the overall.

The former Giro d’Italia champion crashed out on stage 1 of this year’s Tour de France but finished third overall in 2021 behind 

training camp in Spain, the 30-year-old said that the Tour would be his primary target in 2024, while team boss Jonathan Vaughters also hinted at a possible tilt at the Ardennes Classics in April.

“In my mind, it’s the Tour de France. The Tour de France is the big goal for next year,” Carapaz told 

“This season the race wasn’t good for me but I want to try again in 2024 for GC. This year it was different for me with the crash and I’m starting at zero. I will forget the past but if I have good legs, then I can try for a good position overall.”

The Tour de France is set to attract the best GC riders in the world with Vinegaard and Pogačar joined by 

 he was excited by the idea of such a mouth-watering GC clash, and while rosters and schedules at EF Education-EasyPost have yet to be stamped, Carapaz believes that he will have the best support in the peloton come July.

“I’m comfortable here, and there are opportunities for me. I don’t know the team that we’ll bring to the Tour de France but for me, it’ll be the best team in the race,” he said.

“We’ll have lots of riders in good condition. 

 is really good, Andrey Amador is a really good rider. Then there’s someone like Jonas Rutsch from the Classic and Stefan Bissegger. We have good riders, and some of the best in the peloton.”

The EF Education-EasyPost training camp is set to conclude in the coming days but it has been a valuable experience for the men’s and women’s rosters. Both teams shared the same facilities and mixed during training rides and meal times. Carapaz saw it as a valuable exercise in team bonding as he builds his form heading into the new year.

“This camp has been really good and different in a good way because we’re with the women’s team. This is my first time being with the entire team and it’s been a good experience for both the men’s and women’s squads,” he said.

“This is my second week back in training. After the Pan American Games, I stopped for four weeks but now I’m back on the bike. It’s been good for me, and I’ve got a new plan and training for next year. At the moment I’m taking each training day one at a time and then my first race is likely to be the national championships. Then, it’s not 100 per cent, but I’ll probably do the Tour Colombia.”

Team boss Jonathan Vaughters signed Carapaz on a three-year contract from Ineos at the start of 2023. The American holds a huge amount of faith in his team leader and is aware that bad luck and crashes seriously dented Carapaz’s debut campaign with the team. Vaughters acknowledged that Carapaz was on track and that he had impressed since coming to Europe for the team event.

“Richie is in a much better plan than he was at the camp this time last year,” Vaughters told 

. “He was exhausted last year from the season before and then he had his tonsils taken out. That took him months to properly recover. At this camp, I see a Richard who is looking to prove himself again. He’s a lot sharper than he was last year.”

Vaughters also stated that Carapaz would be given a leadership role at the Tour next year but he also stressed that the Olympic road champion would need to impress ahead of July for the team to fully back a GC challenge.

“At the Tour de France, he will be our point person and whether we ride a full-on GC race or we chase stage wins. That’s TBD. Richie does need to prove himself first in some of the weeklong stage races and see how he can stack up against the [Jonas] Vingegaard and [Tadej] Pogačars of this world,” Vaughters said.

“He has that self-belief and I hope he’s correct. We’re going to have to see that in action to have the team ride GC at the Tour because we’re not a team that’s going to chase around eighth place at the Tour. That’s not our ambition. Ultimately our goal in 2024 is to win races, not win points.”

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Richard Carapaz: I’m starting from zero but the Tour de France is my ambition

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Name	Age	UCI Career Wins	UCI Points
Richard Carapaz	30	23	1399
Alberto Bettiol	30	5	1366
Ben Healy	23	11	1269
Marijn van den Berg	24	17	1041
Neilson Powless	27	11	689