Richard Carapaz may be gone, but EF have big plans for their riders next season: 'They have more space'

Carapaz, 33, has been racing with EF Education-EasyPost since 2023, when he left Team INEOS.

In 2024, he became the first Ecuadorian to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, as well as the first to win a Tour de France stage. In stage 17, he crossed the line ahead of Tadej Pogačar by more than 7 minutes.

He won a further 2 stages at the 2026 edition of the Tour, finishing 8th overall, and taking home the polkadot jersey and the super combativity award as well.

Richard Carapaz is a well-liked rider, whose 'never surrender' attitude on the attack is admired. Unwilling to admit defeat, even to Pogačar, Carapaz has an impulsive, attacking style of racing, that sees him chase down stages.

Tom Southam, EF Sports director, said, "He very much had the mindset that he could win races by attacking. He always wanted to go on the offensive, and it's difficult now in this Pogačar era to have riders who actually have the balls to want to go and do that, because a lot of people are looking around thinking about how am I going to beat the other people that are behind Pogačar."

"Whereas Richie… sometimes you'd be like, well, it's a bit much, it's probably not gonna work, but he really wanted to, you know, give it a go."

It is undeniable that Carapaz will leave a hole in the EF ranks. The charismatic rider is leaving to ride with NSN, depsite having two years remaining on his contract.

Southam, however, made it clear that the team would not crumble without him, with a reminder that the team had helped him to his successes.

"If you have a case where you have someone like Richie who's succeeding on a really high level and he's making, you know, lots and lots of points, it can also look like he's doing it and he's just Richie," he said.

"But you have to remember also how many resources we've diverted towards that success as a team, too."

"So we've put a lot of resources behind Richard for him to be able to have the success he's had. And when you take that person out of the equation, naturally it gives more opportunity to the other people that have been making those sacrifices, even without sitting here and doing a lot of sums and maths and working out different things."

Carapaz will be missed, said Southam, but times move on, and in his words, "you need to keep reinventing and keep moving forward.'

EF have announced the signing of another former Giro winner in British rider Tao Geoghagen Hart, who will join the ranks alongside other accomplished stage racers such as Ben Healy and Nelson Powless.

And, Southam says, these riders will "step up" now that Carapaz is gone.

"They have more space," he said, "It's probably easier adapting this way with existing riders than it is when a big leader comes in from another team and then has to find his feet in your team."