Teams & Riders EF Pro Cycling

[The GCW]

EF is having a good season.
Congratulations to Alex Howes winning the U.S. Road National Championship Race.
Flying to France with the Stars & Stripes.

 

[del1962]

EF is having a good season.
Congratulations to Alex Howes winning the U.S. Road National Championship Race.
Flying to France with the Stars & Stripes.

You think he will start TDF?

 

[Koronin]

EF is having a good season.
Congratulations to Alex Howes winning the U.S. Road National Championship Race.
Flying to France with the Stars & Stripes.

You think he will start TDF?

It's possible, especially since they haven't released their Tour team yet.

 

[del1962]

Procycling starts has

URÁN Rigoberto
VAN GARDEREN Tejay
CRADDOCK Lawson
PHINNEY Taylor
BETTIOL Alberto
WOODS Michael

so two more if this correct

 

[Moviefan1203]

Howes?

 

[Anderis]

Although, interestingly, steephill lists Howes on a provisional startlist for TdF, he is not intended to ride there.

Howes expects to showcase the stars and stripes in early August.

“I think my next race is Tour of Utah,” he said. “It’s only right to debut the jersey on home soil.”

https://www.efprocycling.com/alex-howes-us-national-road-champion/

It's annoying EF is always so late to announce their GT rosters. I bet it's Uran, Van Garderen, Woods, Craddock, Bettiol, Clarke, Vanmarke and Langeveld but that's a bit of wishful thinking because it'll probably be Phinney instead of Langeveld as Phinney didn't race the US nationals. :razz:

 

[Lexman]

Uran might be adark horse here in the TdF? He hasn't raced much so must be real fresh...

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Uran might be adark horse here in the TdF? He hasn't raced much so must be real fresh...

Looked like he was beginning to find some form in his last race. Even though the competition will be totally different in the Tour.

 

[Escarabajo]

EF Education First for the Tour de France: Alberto Bettiol, Simon Clarke, Tanel Kangert, Sebastian Langeveld, Tom Scully, Rigoberto Urán, Tejay van Garderen, Michael Woods

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uran-my-season-starts-at-the-tour-de-france/

 

[Anderis]

So it is: Uran, Van Garderen, Woods, Kangert, Bettiol, Clarke, Langeveld, Scully.

Tiny surprises for me are the omissions of Vanmarcke and Craddock but all of the 8 picked were among the most 11 likely to be picked in my eyes. A well balanced team for all terrain and Woods is the only weak point for the TTT. Actually it makes sense to take Scully instead of Vanmarcke with TTT in mind. I wonder who of these would be out if Martinez wasn't injured.

 

[Taxus4a]

Scully did a very goog ITT in TdS, so I think is a good selection. Very strong people as Vanmarcke, Craddock, Hugh Carthy, Pinney, Higuita and Dombroski are out, so that means is a very strong team.

I dont know if some of those names are out for some problems, but is a good balanced team for le Tour. I dont Know of Tejay or Kangert will be 100 % for Rigo if it is necessary, but Simon Clarke did a good job for him when he was second.

 

[Escarabajo]

Carthy, Higuita and Dombroski were never considered to begin with.

 

[offbyone]

You got to be kidding me that Phinney is on the team. What a waste of a spot.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

You got to be kidding me that Phinney is on the team. What a waste of a spot.

Relax, Phinney is not on the Tour squad.

 

[offbyone]

Re: Re:

You got to be kidding me that Phinney is on the team. What a waste of a spot.

Relax, Phinney is not on the Tour squad.

Oh good. I saw his name listed and was thinking I can't remember even seeing him on camera in a race this year. I guess he could be seen as valuable in the TTT but again haven't seen him do much and EF education has been on a roll with a lot of riders on the team deserving that spot.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

You got to be kidding me that Phinney is on the team. What a waste of a spot.

Relax, Phinney is not on the Tour squad.

Oh good. I saw his name listed and was thinking I can't remember even seeing him on camera in a race this year. I guess he could be seen as valuable in the TTT but again haven't seen him do much and EF education has been on a roll with a lot of riders on the team deserving that spot.

I think Craddock was the one they were seriously considering for the TTT and flat stages. From the sounds of it he was one of the last ones to not make the Tour team.

 

[Anderis]

With their TT form this year, I really hoped for a top3 performance in the TTT, although it would be exaggeration to say they disappointed since they only lost 8secs to 2nd place but what I find interesting is that Woods finished on the same time. He is by far the weakest TT-ist in the roster so it would make sense to drop him earlier, it looks like they might have been protecting him? I wonder if it costed them a few seconds.

Bettiol looked like he had so much in reserve at the finish. Maybe that's because he was towing a bunch of climbers on the flat to the line but it looks like he should have legs to try something in the following stages.

 

[Anderis]

Unfortunately, the team was unable to carry the momentum from good spring onto the TdF and it's been a rather bad race for them so far.
Clarke and Bettiol seem to be nowhere near their spring form. Both outclimbed today by some guys they should be able to keep up with. The team didn't do the job on the echelon stage and there have been a lot of crashes involving team members. Didn't really come close to winning a stage despite trying on several occasions. Uran not very well positioned for GC. Rather frustrating to watch.

I wonder about their transfers for 2020. There haven't been many rumours linking riders to EF so far.

 

[gmedina]

Martinez just won gold in the ITT in the Juegos Panamericanos in Lima. So I hope his form keeps improving after his surgery!

 

[Escarabajo]

Martinez just won gold in the ITT in the Juegos Panamericanos in Lima. So I hope his form keeps improving after his surgery!

I guess he was the best there. He took ~2 minutes on the second rider.
So I read that he had issues with allergies during spring. That could explain his form dropping during that time after a good start. Hopefully he will be sharp for the Vuelta.

 

[Anderis]

Why is the team not announcing any new signings or contract extensions? Not a single one since 1st of August. Weird.

2017 had been kind of similar (but not quite, they had announced contract extensions with Uran and Van Baarle in August) before it turned out the team didn't have a sponsor secured for 2018. But I'm fairy sure I've read this year that their current sponsorship is secured for many years and their contract extensions with Martinez and Woods in the spring would suggest so.

 

[Potomac]

Nobody wants to ride in pink.

Except at the Giro.

 

[Anderis]

You dug up this thread only to write a mean response like that, to a post which is no longer up to date after contract announcements of riders like Cort and Bissegger?

Congratulations!

 

[Potomac]

Who am I being "mean" to? A color? Boohoohoo!
Who is the congratulations for? Dombrowski?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

So, it looks like they are once again a solid middle of the WT pack team, no longer scrappy outsiders.