Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[yaco]

Healy seems done for this Tour. He had consistently climbed at the top20 level and in the past 2 days he suddenly became grupetto level. I wonder if that's just tiredness or some kind of health issues.

Its because he has displayed tactical naivety.

 

[Potomac]

Healy has saved something for today, I hope.

 

[Potomac]

The PCS opinion on team's performance at the tour. I don't think these rankings will change much after the final TT

#	Team	Score		Best in GC	Stages	GC	Points	KOM	Youth	Top3	Top10
1	UAE Team Emirates	1075		1	5	18	-	8	-	8	20
2	Intermarché - Wanty	525		19	3	-	16	-	-	5	10
3	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	384		2	1	-	-	-	-	8	20
4	Soudal Quick-Step	383		3	1	-	-	-	19	5	14
5	Alpecin - Deceuninck	350		96	3	-	-	-	-	5	7
6	Uno-X Mobility	215		33	-	-	3	10	-	3	8
7	EF Education - EasyPost	195		15	1	1	-	2	-	2	10
8	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	175		30	1	1	1	-	1	2	7
9	Lotto Dstny	165		86	1	-	-	-	-	3	8
10	Team Jayco AlUla	165		12	1	-	-	-	-	3	8
11	TotalEnergies	130		17	1	-	-	-	-	2	4
12	Israel - Premier Tech	120		9	-	-	-	-	-	4	12
13	Arkéa - B&B Hotels	120		36	1	-	-	-	-	1	5
14	Astana Qazaqstan Team	115		75	1	-	-	-	-	1	4
15	Movistar Team	105		20	-	-	-	-	-	3	12
16	Bahrain - Victorious	75		11	-	-	-	-	-	1	12
17	INEOS Grenadiers	65		7	-	-	-	-	-	2	7
18	Lidl - Trek	55		10	-	-	-	-	-	-	11
19	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe	40		18	-	-	-	-	-	1	5
20	Cofidis	35		14	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
21	Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team	30		13	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
22	Groupama - FDJ	30		25	-	-	-	-	-	1	3

So in the end it was Carapaz that shined the most for them this year.

 

[triley36]

Carapaz has been great to watch this tour. Couldn’t ask for more from him. A little disappointed in the performance of Bettiol and Costa. Was impressed with Healy and Quinn. Powless, though not on great form was solid in helping get the right people in the right breaks. A stage win, polka dots and a day in yellow. Best tour for the team in a long while.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Well done EF and Carapaz for making this tour considerable more enjoyable to watch.

 

[Potomac]

EF riders without a contract for next year, per PCS
That's almost half the squad.

Nr.	Rider	Age	Points PCS ranking
1	Costa Rui	37	521
2	Chaves Esteban	34	159
3	Valgren Michael	32	284
4	Bettiol Alberto	30	849
5	Bissegger Stefan	25	487
6	van den Berg Marijn	25	812
7	Doull Owain	31	220
8	Cepeda Jefferson Alexander	26	290
9	de Bod Stefan	27	102
10	Carr Simon	25	310
11	Shaw James	28	43
12	Rutsch Jonas	26	171
13	Piccolo Andrea	23	101
14	Quinn Sean	24	126

 

[Escarabajo]

Is Bettiol expensive?

 

[Anderis]

Is Bettiol expensive?

He's probably reasonably expensive as a former monument winner, current NC and after a good and most consistent season of his career.

What do you all think? Will EF come out of this transfer window strengthened, weakened or more or less equal?
So far I only know of:
rumoured to leave: Bettiol, Carr
rumoured to join: Mihkels
retiring: Uran
On paper that's mostly losses but we need more data to learn the whole picture.
If Van den Berg and Bettiol leave, this transfer window could very likely be a loss.

 

[triley36]

I wonder if signing Mihkels is a clue that Van den berg is moving on?

From the list of riders out of contract I would hope they can resign Van den berg, Quinn, Rutsch and Bissegger at a minimum.
Would love to see Carr and Bettiol back, but all signs point to both moving on.

 

[Escarabajo]

The thing is that they don't spend too much money on riders so for the money the invest the points they get are fine. IMHO.
Now, maybe Carapaz does something big in the Vuelta and everything is a success for EF this year.

 

[Anderis]

I wonder if signing Mihkels is a clue that Van den berg is moving on?

I have no clue. If Van den Berg is leaving, you want someone like Mihkels to fill the gap. If Van den Berg is your future, you also want someone like Mihkels to potentially support him. Unless you think Mihkels will actually be faster than Van den Berg in a few years but I don't think he is right now.

 

[Potomac]

They have to keep Bettiol!

 

[triley36]

They have to keep Bettiol!

I hope so, but I don’t think they win a bidding war with Astana and their new sponsors.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

I have no clue. If Van den Berg is leaving, you want someone like Mihkels to fill the gap. If Van den Berg is your future, you also want someone like Mihkels to potentially support him. Unless you think Mihkels will actually be faster than Van den Berg in a few years but I don't think he is right now.

Mads seems like a great leadout guy for Van den Berg, and I don’t foresee Van den Berg leaving relatively soon.

 

[Anderis]

Just read on another forum that Sosa and Ethan Hayter could be possible signings for EF, although Hayter is linked to multiple other teams.

 

[Ricco']

Mihkels is a top-10 rider in Roubaix and I don't think that right now he is as inferior as MvdB as it may look. 4 top-10 finishes in sprint stages for Mihkels (1 start) vs 6/7 for MvdB (2 starts, majority of them in Vuelta 2023 sprinting field) in GTs, being 4 years younger. If he leaves Intermarché it won't be for a leadout role, I would guess.

To improve his placings in sprint stages he would just need to improve his aggressiveness fighting for positioning in the final. From the times I could see him as the protected rider for the team, Mihkels spends more energy than needed losing and regaining the wheel of the other sprinters. I'm also not sure if his future will go directly through the sprints or more towards the hard classics.

 

[Anderis]

Roubaix is not necessarily an indication of whether a rider will be more of a sprinter or a lead out guy.

I'm also not sure if his future will go directly through the sprints or more towards the hard classics.

This is exactly why he may end up in the lead out role- if he prioritises the hard classics at the cost of his top end speed, it will be natural for him to support others in stage races. I'm not saying this is what's going to happen but it could happen. I just don't know.

So far I think only Bissegger has been significantly contributing to Van den Berg's sprints. Given that Van den Berg has taken 6 sprint wins in 2 years, which makes him the first relatively successful sprinter the team has had since early Farrar, they should look for ways to support him more if he's going to stay. But Mihkels is still very young and it's difficult to predict with 100% certainty what kind of rider he's going to end up as.

 

[Potomac]

Simon Carr gone.

 

[Anderis]

They have to keep Bettiol!

Simon Carr gone.

And Bettiol may also be gone even before the end of this year:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1821314239140921748

View: https://x.com/cirogazzetta/status/1821314239140921748

 

[Potomac]

I like Uran but I was surprised he didn't retire after last year.

I was just checking out Mihkels on PCS and looks promising for 21 years old rider.

Is Bettiol leaving a sign of EF just not willing to pay market rates or is it a sign of Astana willing to bid up the market?
I've been waiting to see how fast Astana acts under new ownership.

 

[carolina]

Will we have a reprise of Nibali's hungarian jersey?

 

[Anderis]

I like Uran but I was surprised he didn't retire after last year.

I think he's always intended to retire after 2024 Olympic Games. He ended up not having enough form left to make the team but he couldn't have known that a year or two in advance.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Writing was on the wall for Bettiol when Vaughters publicly attacked him on ITV, calling him selfish immediately after his Tour withdrawal, I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing at the time.

 

[yaco]

Writing was on the wall for Bettiol when Vaughters publicly attacked him on ITV, calling him selfish immediately after his Tour withdrawal, I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing at the time.

Add to that the incident in the cobbled stage of the 2022 TDF. They all add up.

 

[Potomac]

Writing was on the wall for Bettiol when Vaughters publicly attacked him on ITV, calling him selfish immediately after his Tour withdrawal, I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing at the time.

Somehow I missed that.