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Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

Page 109 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
I've followed Powless through crit corners when he was a Junior. My guess is he'll manage that part of it. Per Anderis comment; it'll get down to who is there at the finish.
Powless is definitely a punchy rider and if it is wet, and corners need to be taken seated, I think it will play towards a rider like himself. If it's dry and everyone is standing, sprinting out of corners, I think it will be the bigger more powerful guys at the point end late in the race. My 2 cents.
 
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Powless is definitely a punchy rider and if it is wet, and corners need to be taken seated, I think it will play towards a rider like himself. If it's dry and everyone is standing, sprinting out of corners, I think it will be the bigger more powerful guys at the point end late in the race. My 2 cents.
He and Bettiol were legit players until MvP's move sucked the life out of any pursuit. They still made the race super competitive and should be happy at the effort.
 
On the gcn feed they went to interviews talking about, and showing, the crowd.....who the hell is in charge at gcn?
It was the same on French Eurosport where I was watching. So I think it was the primary broadcaster controlling the video feed? I know they want to get the interviews on the air live, but I think when riders 5-10 came in was before the interviews and they were just showing the podium riders talking to their team people in the finish area. As I mentioned yesterday, is it that hard to do a split screen so we could at least see these guys had great performances crossing the finish line?
 
I think that I wrote earlier this year that having Carapaz, Healy and Powless all contracted for 2024 puts EF in a comfortable position and they can focus more on long-term signings right now.

And they did. I'm starting too think that maybe a bit too much for my liking. Only 4 neo-pros confirmed or heavily linked to the team so far. Rafferty is an excellent signing and perhaps the most promising neo-pro stage racer they have signed since Talansky, I would say that's a 10/10 signing by EF standards. They've got a bit creative with the rest, though. Ryan seemed like one of the best climbing talents in u-23 but right now is a big unknown due to recurring health issues and not racing for an entire year. Van der Lee has very few results on the road and was apparently signed based solely on his lab results. And Markel Beloki is just 18 and it's not like he's dominating over his peers in those kind of races. That's 3 rather risky signings out of 4.

Also the team could use more riders oriented for sprints and northern classics. There's already not that many of them on the team. Cort is leaving. Scully and Keukeleire are getting old and don't perform as well as they used to anymore. Rutsch and Bissegger haven't progressed much in the last couple of years. Bettiol is kinda inconsistent and the entire group has produced very few results in the last few years. It was not that long ago that EF had one of the strongest teams out of anyone for cobbled races and now they often struggle to have just one rider anywhere near being in contention for a decent result, unless they "borrow" someone like Powless, whose primary specialisation is something else.
 
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I can't get excited about sprinters, or bunch sprints.
If EF ignores sprinters and focuses on classics and GCs that's ok with me.
I have no problem with sprinters being less of a priority for the team but there are some races on the calendar that basically only a sprinter can have a good result in, so any WT team should have 2 or 3 guys who can get a decent result from a bunch sprint under right circumstances.
EF only have Van den Berg and he's not even confirmed for 2024.
 
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Seems like the EF Education team setup has set up their own ladies team (at Conti level) - "EF Pro Cycling announced in June that they will start a new women's team, racing as EF Education-Cannondale, and that it will begin as a Continental women's team in 2024." ( https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ef...ers-and-staff-free-to-join-new-teams-in-2024/ ) so hopefully some of the riders can continue there, but the staff at the now defunkt EF-TIBCO-SVB are not allowed to work at the new EF-Cannondale,
"A contract was drawn up between both teams, which stated that the men's team was not allowed to contact the women's team," says Christel Herremans, who is European manager at the women's team EF.

"To our great surprise, the staff of the current EF women's team are not allowed to work with the new EF women's team," Herremans tells Sporza. A legacy left by foreman Linda Jackson. "After the end of our contract, we will not be allowed to work with EF's men's team or women's team for the next 2 years. All very annoying and frustrating." (https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...am-shocked-manager-christel-herremans-reveals )
 
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Sad news, sort of been expecting this.
I'm sure many of the riders will find new teams, but older ones like Stephen's might find it difficult
Shapira is currently on maternity leave.

EF will probably still want to do well in the US races and having an experienced and still fairly strong rider in Stephens would make sense to keep around. Otherwise she could be picked up by HPH, if she wishes to continue.

I'm not sure Shapira even wants to return to cycling, but she could perhaps get an offer IPT - Roland.

Seems like the EF Education team setup has set up their own ladies team (at Conti level) - "EF Pro Cycling announced in June that they will start a new women's team, racing as EF Education-Cannondale, and that it will begin as a Continental women's team in 2024." ( https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ef...ers-and-staff-free-to-join-new-teams-in-2024/ ) so hopefully some of the riders can continue there, but the staff at the now defunkt EF-TIBCO-SVB are not allowed to work at the new EF-Cannondale,
"A contract was drawn up between both teams, which stated that the men's team was not allowed to contact the women's team," says Christel Herremans, who is European manager at the women's team EF.

"To our great surprise, the staff of the current EF women's team are not allowed to work with the new EF women's team," Herremans tells Sporza. A legacy left by foreman Linda Jackson. "After the end of our contract, we will not be allowed to work with EF's men's team or women's team for the next 2 years. All very annoying and frustrating." (https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...am-shocked-manager-christel-herremans-reveals )

That whole situation seems to have been cleared up now and no one will be kept from signing for the new team. It was only something Jackson would have enforced in case her own team could continue.
 
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