EF Training-EasyPost have showed the signing of former international champion Rui Costa for 2024, with group supervisor Jonathan Vaughters describing the Portuguese rider as a key mentor to a number of younger riders who will sign up for the group.
37-year-old Costa raced for Intermarché-Circus-Wanty in 2023, profitable his first race of the yr on the Problem Mallorca and lately his final race in Japan. He additionally gained degree 15 of the Vuelta a España and the Volta a l. a. Comunitat Valenciana degree race, as he returned from a domestique function for quite a few years at UAE TEam Emirates.
Richard Carapaz, Alberto Bettiol, Ben Healy and Neilson Powless will once more lead EF Training-EasyPost in 2024.
The USA-registered WorldTour group has additionally signed 18-year-old Markel Beloki, 19-year-old Lukas Nerurkar and Jack Rootkin-Grey of Britain, Eire’s Darren Rafferty and Archie Ryan, and Jardi Christiaan van der Lee from the Netherlands.
“Everybody, together with myself, can develop along the more youthful riders. I’m rising annually, studying in spite of my age. It’s true that I love to lend a hand however I additionally like to be told and give a boost to,” Costa mentioned.
“I’ve been a qualified for approximately 17 years already and I’m nonetheless as excited now as I used to be 15 years in the past when biking was once the whole lot to me.
“The objectives are to stay including, to stay profitable. To start out this season by means of profitable, to complete profitable – that brings me additional motivation for subsequent yr. I need to stay getting into the similar path. That’s my function.”
Workforce boss Jonathan Vaughters known Costa’s function within the group, announcing the veteran can “translate near-wins into wins”.
“A rider like Rui, who has been racing within the WorldTour for such a lot of years, is aware of methods to win,” Vaughters mentioned.
“What’s extra, he is aware of methods to translate near-wins into wins. His revel in will probably be an impressive asset to this group. Now we have a handful of riders making their WorldTour debut subsequent yr, and Rui will probably be a useful mentor to them.”
Along with Costa and the opposite riders at the incoming checklist, the group has renewed with Ben Healy throughout the finish of the 2026 season. Magnus Cort (Uno-X) and the retiring Jens Keukeleire are, to this point, the 2 riders showed as leaving EF this wintry weather.
