Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[Anderis]

Unless Powless comes back to his 2023 cobbled races form, EF has near 0 prospects for cobbled races if Bettiol leaves. Not so long ago their cobbled team consisted of riders like Bettiol, Vanmarcke, Langeveld, Van Baarle, Phinney and Modolo and was very entertaining to watch. Not so much anymore.

 

[Anderis]

Powless is alive.

 

[Anderis]

What's going on with Hugh Carthy?

No GTs this year.

 

[Bolder]

What's going on with Hugh Carthy?

No GTs this year.

The forgotten man. Very curious.

 

[tobydawq]

From what I've heard, Carthy is not an altogether very nice chap, so I would imagine that a dip in level would make it very easy to not select him to do Grand Tours.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

From what I've heard, Carthy is not an altogether very nice chap, so I would imagine that a dip in level would make it very easy to not select him to do Grand Tours.

I have no heard anything specifc about him that suggest he is a not a nice guy, but one get the impression from interviews that he is not a friendly extraverted type.

 

[tobydawq]

I have no heard anything specifc about him that suggest he is a not a nice guy, but one get the impression from interviews that he is not a friendly extraverted type.

Anders Mielke has had some very unpleasant experiences with him and Matti Breschel also lets on that he's difficult to work with even if he - as he shouldn't because he's his director - doesn't give details (as far as I've seen).

 

[Potomac]

Vuelta startlist

• -CARAPAZ Richard
• -URÁN Rigoberto
• -COSTA Rui
• -CEPEDA Jefferson Alexander
• -DOULL Owain
• -SWEENY Harry
• -SHAW James
• -RAFFERTY Darren*

EF says their team goal is Carapaz in red.

I prefer that to stage hunting.

 

[triley36]

Vuelta startlist

• -CARAPAZ Richard
• -URÁN Rigoberto
• -COSTA Rui
• -CEPEDA Jefferson Alexander
• -DOULL Owain
• -SWEENY Harry
• -SHAW James
• -RAFFERTY Darren*

EF says their team goal is Carapaz in red.

I prefer that to stage hunting.

I was all for stage hunting at the Tour as a podium place did not seem realistic to me. At the Vuelta, I think there is a very realistic chance Carapaz ends up on the final podium, and could even win if he is in good shape and Roglic is not.

All to say, I agree that GC should be the focus here, and they have brought a solid team for that.

 

[Anderis]

Archie Ryan showed some good legs in Poland. Shame it didn't result in a better GC place but it was nice to see a young EF rider showing some potential.

 

[Anderis]

Not a single transfer or contract extension confirmed this year so far.

 

[Potomac]

Not a single transfer or contract extension confirmed this year so far.

I was thinking the same. But isn't EF notorious for late announcements?

 

[Anderis]

I was thinking the same. But isn't EF notorious for late announcements?

A lot of the time, yes. Still unusual to have 0 news by late August. There usually would've been at least 1 or 2 contract extensions announced by now.

 

[Anderis]

Ridiculously bad performance from the team today. Carapaz is one thing but he just had one team mate left in the peloton of 80 riders.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Landa saying he didnt feel well this morning and not good with the heat ..but not too bad a near the top guys

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Another audacious performance today. Hopefully an indication of things to come in this Vuelta. Rest well and come back with full power already on Tuesday.

 

[triley36]

Almost two years in to his three year contract, I don’t know that the return on investment for what EF paid for Carapaz has been worth it, but he is certainly fun to watch.

I’m not sure catching Yates was ever his objectives today. I think his objective was to make up some time in GC, and he’s done that quite well. A podium is a realistic goal now. Didn’t think it was possible 24 hours ago, so chapeau to Carapaz and the team.

 

[Potomac]

EF is already down two riders, and it didn't look very strong to begin with.
Carapaz will have to finesse things out.

 

[Potomac]

Meanwhile, still very little action on next season signings and resignings.

Still no contract, per PCS, for 2025....

Nr.	Rider	Age	Points PCS this season
1	van den Berg Marijn	25	679
2	Costa Rui	37	482
3	Bissegger Stefan	25	417
4	Cepeda Jefferson Alexander	26	305
5	Valgren Michael (is he retiring?)	32	294
6	Rutsch Jonas	26	161
7	Chaves Esteban	34	159
8	Doull Owain	31	148
9	Quinn Sean	24	86
10	Piccolo Andrea (released)	23	77
11	de Bod Stefan	27	64
12	Shaw James	28	43

 

[Bolder]

Somehow I missed that.

I missed that too. Bettiol was flying this year but was probably a bit burned out by the time the Tour arrived. Hopefully Healy and Powless can step up next year (and if the Asgreen rumors are true, him too...)

I think Bettiol might have been on a pretty big contract, though.

Looking at the unsigned list above, I would say that's a whole lot of "meh" results from riders who have been decent to quite good in the past.

 

[Potomac]

Riders listed for EF 2025, and Pro Cycling Stats (PCS) ranking and points this season

#	ridername	rnk	pnt
1	CARAPAZ Richard	20	1244
2	HEALY Ben	84	622
3	RYAN Archie	173	362
4	CARTHY Hugh	248	266
5	HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich	272	239
6	POWLESS Neilson	275	236
7	NERURKAR Lukas	305	207
	Asgreen Kasper (rumor has it)	320	154
8	STEINHAUSER Georg	336	190
9	RAFFERTY Darren	466	126
10	SWEENY Harry	719	62
11	VAN DER LEE Jardi Christiaan	858	43
12	ROOTKIN-GRAY Jack	978	33
13	TODOME Yuhi	1154	23
14	BELOKI Markel	1337	17
15	AMADOR Andrey	1439	14

 

[Potomac]

With 18 WT teams at 30 riders each that's 540 riders.
Throw in the top two continental teams and that's a total of 600 riders

I know the PCS rankings can't tell the whole story and small differences are meaningless, but zooming out I think they give decent indication.

So if a rider is ranked lower than 600 you really have to start wondering about their place in the professional peloton, or at least in the World Tour.

 

[carolina]

Rui Costa has a broken rib from the Vuelta crash. Really bad luck this season with crashes, I hope EF renews with him for another year.

 

[Sciatic]

EF is already down two riders, and it didn't look very strong to begin with.
Carapaz will have to finesse things out.

He typically makes his mark by going off on his own. But teammates of course still important if he gets dropped because of crash or a bad day.

 

[Potomac]

EF didn't start Van den Berg at Renewi, a race that has nothing but sprints.
A sign that he is moving on?