Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[Zinoviev Letter]

So young, development team? He'll be 20 next week, already having two years of U23 under his belt. He ain't that unknown Irish kid setting France on fire no more. He's older than Lenny Martinez.

Well yeah, he’s not going to move from HBA to another development team. But even though it’s getting more and more common for the very best age group riders to go WT at 20 or even 19 if you are Remco or Lenny, it is still objectively very young for that level.

Staune Mittet, who beat Rafferty at the Baby Giro, is 21 and at this point is still officially supposed to ride for Jumbo U23 next season. That’s more historically normal. (Although I’d guess that he will actually be promoted to the senior squad by then).

 

[AlfaLum]

I think EF is doing a bit more of the .1 and .Pro races this year, so they can probably offer him quite a good program to start with. Then possibly starting to add some WT races like Romandie and Suisse to see if a Vuelta debut makes sense in order to get the experience. After this year Rafferty is definitely not needing another U23 year.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

20 wins for the season already

 

[Potomac]

I think it is official for le Tour

• BETTIOL Alberto
• -AMADOR Andrey
• -CHAVES Esteban
• -CARAPAZ Richard
• -SHAW James
• -CORT Magnus
• -URÁN Rigoberto
• -POWLESS Neilson

 

[CannondaleCoaster]

I think it is official for le Tour

• BETTIOL Alberto
• -AMADOR Andrey
• -CHAVES Esteban
• -CARAPAZ Richard
• -SHAW James
• -CORT Magnus
• -URÁN Rigoberto
• -POWLESS Neilson

Shaw over Carr seems wierd for me as the latter has had a better season. Doull was also stronger than Shaw at the UK nat champs yesterday, and that was on a hilly course... For the rest two and a halve riders with a giro in their legs (Uran doing abandoning halfway). Bit risky but ok overall.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

nice to see James Shaw in the team. He was on the verge of quitting pro racing a couple of years ago after initially getting cut off from lotto, and then part of the Riwal team that went tits-up. Both times he got back in through the skin of his teeth at british continental teams and now he's at the tdf.

From the press release:
"Who would have thought, eh? The Tour de France. What a bike race. I didn’t really know what to make of it. The whole thing came about at the Dauphiné when I was riding better than I have ever ridden and it obviously didn’t go unnoticed. Our DS Charly pulled me over on the last day and he said, look, we’ll put you on the long list. We’ll send you home to prepare. Don’t do Ventoux Challenge. Go home and get ready and prepare as if you are going to go and I thought, is he pulling my leg? He said he is considering me, but is it a serious consideration and stuff? So I was like oh, don’t build yourself up too much. So I prepared as if I was going to go. I put everything into it, the best recovery I could have done, that sort of jazz. And then he rang me and said we’ll crack on with it, we’ll do it. So I thought, oh, this is actually going to happen. I was a bit sort of taken aback by it. I didn’t really know what to do.

I am a bit nervous. I am a bit scared. It is obvious from the guys who are going that I am there to be the best teammate I can. We have got a hell of a roster. Starting on that start line is going to be incredible. Personally, Paris is something that I have on my mind. I want to make it all the way to, but along the way I want to make sure I am doing the job that I am going there to do and be there for the guys and Carapaz and all the boys get what they need and I can get to that finish line on wherever and whatever day and I can get on that bus knowing that I gave it everything for Neilson or whoever that job was for that day. I am in the best shape I have ever been in. I think now is the moment, now is the time to do it as well, so I am super excited.

I have this attitude in life that there are two people that you have got to make proud and they are the eight-year-old version of yourself and the eighty-year-old version of yourself. As long as the eight-year-old version of you looks up to you at the minute and thinks yeah, that guy is who I want to be and the eighty-year-old version of you looks back at you and says yeah, that is the person that I wanted to be, then it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks or feels. I think the eight-year-old version of James would be blown away right now."

 

[Anderis]

Shaw over Carr seems wierd for me as the latter has had a better season. Doull was also stronger than Shaw at the UK nat champs yesterday, and that was on a hilly course... For the rest two and a halve riders with a giro in their legs (Uran doing abandoning halfway). Bit risky but ok overall.

Not sure if Carr really has had a better season than Shaw, I rate Shaw's 2nd overall in Settimana Coppi e Bartali over any result that Carr has had this year. Shaw was also strong in the Dauphine which is the best benchmark for the TdF out of any race out there. Above all, I don't think Carr has even targetted a TdF selection. He's been on PCS provisional Vuelta startlist for weeks and I may have interpreted it wrong, but something I read prior to the Giro that suggested that Carr doesn't like riding GTs all that much?

I wouldn't read too much from the national championships either, they often have their own rules and are often won by riders who don't perform that well in big races. Shaw is definetely going to climb better than Doull during TdF if he's healthy.

Also Shaw is a versatile rider who was visible doing good work in a race like OHN and then climbing and TT-ing decently in Dauphine.

 

[Potomac]

Define success for EF in this year's tour.

My take: with investment in Carapaz they need a top 5 GC finish. And two stage wins from somebody along the way.

 

[Anderis]

I think one stage win would already be a pretty good result for the team (when you have several superhumans like Pogacar, Vingegaard, Van Aert and Van der Poel and superteams like Jumbo in the race and you don't have a bunch sprinter, the opportunities will be scarce) but Carapaz really needs to do something to justify the invesment of the team after having so few results so far. Stage hunting doesn't cut it for me. He needs to be in contention for a GC podium, or get a top10 overall with bonuses like a stage win or a KOM jersey.

 

[Anderis]

When Carapaz was signing with EF, I think I said I was not 100% comfortable with him being picked as their big contract rider, because he is that type of rider who is one moderately severe crash away from bringing very little results all year long.

And it's exactly what happened.

 

[Rob5091]

Carapaz has abandoned the Tour with a fractured knee - shame for him and EF.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Carapaz has abandoned the Tour with a fractured knee - shame for him and EF.

Big ooof, of course I wish him a speedy recovery.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

One would think they need mobile X-Ray devices.

Carapaz rides home for 22kms with a fractured kneecap. Same with Gilbert in 2018.

That is dangerous, and could cause a sudden career end. Riding dozens of kilometers of a TdF stage with a fractured knee is just dangerous, I hope poor Carapaz gets well soon.

 

[Potomac]

He must be tough to have finished the stage.

 

[yaco]

It's not a disaster for EF when you consider they've chosen a versatile and it is doubtful Carapaz would be a factor in GC - And it's unlikely, Carapaz could have copied his Vuelta 2022 heroics, when riding for GC he was a million miles off the pace, and yet, somehow, won three stages.

 

[SafeBet]

It's not a disaster for EF when you consider they've chosen a versatile and it is doubtful Carapaz would be a factor in GC

Why?
He's been a factor in GC for every GT he's targeted since becoming relevant. Unless for factor in GC you only mean the winner.

 

[Bolder]

Oh, it's a disaster, make no mistake about that. Carapaz was EF's highest profile signing ever, with the goal of doing a great Tour GC. Now it's time to get some stage wins but let's be realistic about what happened.

 

[yaco]

Why?
He's been a factor in GC for every GT he's targeted since becoming relevant. Unless for factor in GC you only mean the winner.

He failed in the GC at the 2022 Vuelta and he's been off the pace in lead up races - It's more of an issue for Movistar, because EF has a more balanced squad.

 

[CannondaleCoaster]

Would be nice if Bettiol at least tries to sprint when he's in an elite group at the finish where he has a chance of winning...

 

[Potomac]

Would be nice if Bettiol at least tries to sprint when he's in an elite group at the finish where he has a chance of winning...

I agree. But is it possible he was waiting until say... 900 meters but Lafay attacked from 1300 so never got his chance? I don't say that was his plan, just that it could have been for him and maybe a few other riders.

 

[Potomac]

What is worse is ignoring their best chance for GC now...Powless. Instead they are wasting him on KOM.

 

[Escarabajo]

Is Uran sick? I know he was not going to set the world on fire but this is not normal for him. Especially when He showed decent form at Tour de Suisse and he is almost always in the front group of every GT.

... I just heard from Colombian media that Uran said this morning that He eased the pedal to avoid doing the same in every Tour. He is going after stages.

 

[Bolder]

What is worse is ignoring their best chance for GC now...Powless. Instead they are wasting him on KOM.

I don't see Powless as a legit GC contender in a Grand Tour. Better to have him up front in breaks rather than getting dropped when the real climbing starts.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I'm sure Powless' attack today also was with the yellow jersey in mind, but he obviously quickly realised the GC teams wouldn't let him get much of a gap. Still he gave it his best shot for the stage win, and had there been an additional crash behind, then maybe he would have been able to hold on,

Winning the KOM would be much bigger than finishing 9th, so I think it's a good plan to try goign for that and stage wins instead. Now he has an early advantage, and if he's able to stay fresh enough during the rest of the race, the he'll have a chance of winning the jersey.

 

[Bolder]

The problem with the KOM jersey in this TdF is that (and I havent' checked closesly) but I assume that GC stages in the Pyrenees, Jura, Massif. Alps have much higher points, and thus the GC contenders will likely scarf them up if the race heats up. I dunno, Powless is certainly a good climber and the type of rider who has won a KOM in the past, but this year I could see Vingegaard and Pogacar sweeping right past him at some point.

He just doesn't really strike me as a rider for Grand Tours, especially if you don't have a GC contender like Carapaz anymore whom he could work for...