Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[Potomac]

I thought he had it too.

 

[Potomac]

Marijn van den Berg is quietly accruing UCI points for the team.

 

[Potomac]

OK, so is Carthy knocked out of a respectable GC finish at this point?

 

[Tim Cahill]

He's only a minute behind according to race centre

 

[Tim Cahill]

Lol nvm lost like 30 minutes

Where's Padun anyway

 

[Anderis]

2023 for EF:
+ decent number of overall wins
+ Powless
+ Healy
+ early season performance
+ contract extension for Healy and signing of Rafferty
+ finally, after a few years, having someone who can win a bunch sprint every now and then
+ safe position in UCI team ranking for now

- mediocre GT performance
- mediocre performance in major one week races
- poor performance/results from most new signings
- Carapaz (he fits in the point above but I feel that he should be singled out as probably the most expensive rider on the team)
- Bissegger's ITT regression
- lack of performance from northern classics specialists/complete lack of prospects for any of the flatter races on the calendar
- lack of new signings in northern classics/sprint department to fix the above

Overall a mixed season. Not a disaster but not something to be ecstatic about either. Some positive surprises but plenty of disappointments as well.

The Canadian classics were quite a disappointment considering how strong of a squad the team brought there.

 

[Potomac]

....
The Canadian classics were quite a disappointment considering how strong of a squad the team brought there.

I thought EF would get a top 5 in both races.

 

[Anderis]

I thought EF would get a top 5 in both races.

I can understand that Quebec ended up in a sprint, which didn't favour EF, but no rider inside top20 in Montreal is really disappointing. On paper, EF might have had the strongest squad for this race of all teams, or at least 2nd strongest after UAE.

 

[Potomac]

Any chance EF can get a WT victory the remainder of the season?

 

[Tim Cahill]

Carapaz can win Lombardia, will need some luck but he's looked very good in both Italian races, had a puncture at a crucial moment and thought it was the last lap in Sabatini.

 

[Anderis]

It doesn't look like Tour of Guangxi is going to be treated seriously by any of the big guns so anything can happen there. But there are like 8 WT race days left until the end of the year so it will not be easy to win.

 

[Potomac]

So the highlight of the Vuelta is Van Den Berg getting 270-ish UCI points for the team.

 

[Anderis]

Not even a top20 overall in any of the 3 GTs this year, pretty poor for a climbing oriented team. Powless and Healy saved the season in the classics, because the performance in major stage races has been rather poor.

 

[Potomac]

Carthy and Bettiol extended their contracts.

 

[Potomac]

Add added these two young Brits

Lukas Nerurkar

Lukas Nerurkar (born 2003-11-14) is a professional road racing cyclist from Great Britain, currently riding for Trinity Racing. His best results are winning a stage in Giro Next Gen and winning a stage in Orlen Nations Grand Prix.

www.procyclingstats.com

Jack Rootkin-Gray

Jack Rootkin-Gray (born 2002-11-05 in London) is a professional road racing cyclist from Great Britain, currently riding for Saint Piran. His best results are winning Ringerike GP and winning a stage in Course de la Paix Grand Prix Jeseníky.

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[Anderis]

Carthy and Bettiol extended their contracts.

That means all of the most important riders except Cort and M. Van den Berg are already confirmed to stay. Hopefully the latter will remain with the team as well.

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

Not even a top20 overall in any of the 3 GTs this year, pretty poor for a climbing oriented team. Powless and Healy saved the season in the classics, because the performance in major stage races has been rather poor.

Well, but there was a bit of bad luck involved. In GTs

Giro: Uran is old, he's lost a step, clearly, but judging from how he did at the TdS later, a top 10 would have been possible without Covid. Not guaranteed, but possible.
Carthy just doesn't seem to really have it, his 3th place at the Vuelta is the outlier. Seems to be more of a 8-12th position rider finally. Out in the Giro, forgot why? Was on course for something around 10th
Tour: Carapaz crashed out, for me Carapaz was the favorite for third place, he usually prepares his GT goal well. 1 GT per year, he's there. But he's the only real top 5 contender they have.
Powless disappointing, expected something like 2022, just better, further development, even if only number 2 in the team, after Carapaz out, even more, went for escapes, didn't have it there either, just wasn't there. Disappointing.
Uran, horrible at the Tour. Didn't have high expectations, but that bad?
Chaves unfortunately was never going to be the rider he was, so...
Vuelta: Ok, nothing, Carthy again, seemed on his way to his +/-10, then completely collapsed. Did he have something or just didn't manage to get his form back up after the Giro?

In the end in GTs it's Carapaz, crashed in the Tour, not ready for the Vuelta, some bad luck for Uran and Carthy, but that never was going to be more than 8th or so.
Powless disappointing in the Tour. Then you're left with nothing in GC.
And of course then there's Padun...

 

[Potomac]

Powless went after the TdF KOM, and I hate the KOM. So in my mind he doesn't get any credit for making that effort

 

[Sciatic]

Powless went after the TdF KOM, and I hate the KOM. So in my mind he doesn't get any credit for making that effort

My guess is after Carapaz crashed out, dashing all their plans for riding for a high GC, so they they sought other ways to make a mark. I think it was the DS’s telling Powless he needed to try for dots,

 

[Anderis]

My guess is after Carapaz crashed out, dashing all their plans for riding for a high GC, so they they sought other ways to make a mark. I think it was the DS’s telling Powless he needed to try for dots,

And i bet he would have got it if his shape was anywhere near decent. It's remarkable how long he was in contention despite getting dropped from breakaways so early on every stage.

 

[yaco]

Powless lacks finesse in stage races - He's like a bull at a gate in many stages - He only had to look at how Pinot won the KOM at the Giro where he got a mixture of easy points and hard points.

 

[Anderis]

Pinot was in great form during the Giro- he ended up 5th overall after all. Powless' form during TdF was so bad that he shouldn't even be a contender but he somehow kept going through sheer determination.

 

[yaco]

Pinot was in great form during the Giro- he ended up 5th overall after all. Powless' form during TdF was so bad that he shouldn't even be a contender but he somehow kept going through sheer determination.

Powless has a history of riding like a drunken sailor in GT's and even in shorter stage races - His strength is one day racing.

 

[Sciatic]

Powless has a history of riding like a drunken sailor in GT's and even in shorter stage races - His strength is one day racing.

Let’s hope EF agrees with you and makes that a priority for him. Would love to see more North Americans make a mark in some of the Spring classics.

 

[Anderis]

The classics have already been priority for Powless for a long time. The sheer fact that he rode cobbled races last spring and how packed his early season calendar was confirms that. While his performance in stage races can be inconsistent, his 2023 TdF form was much worse than his usual form in stage races.