When EF Education-EasyPost announced the arrival of Luke Lamperti earlier this week, it seemed like a surprising move away from Soudal-QuickStep. After all, with Remco Evenepoel's departure and the team's return to a focus on the Spring Classics, a rider of his qualities could be given a lot more opportunities.
But Lamperti revealed to Cyclingnews that he decided to leave the Belgian powerhouse team before knowing of Evenepoel's move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
"I did have an offer extension from Soudal-QuickStep. I loved the team, I had no complaints, it was a really nice team," Lamperti said. "I made the choice to leave before I knew Remco was leaving.
"I just saw a lot of positives in a switch to EF. Of course, some of that is opportunity [to go for his own results], but I also had my fair share of opportunity in QuickStep. I do look forward to moving and am looking forward to the season of racing with [EF]."
Lamperti signed with QuickStep as a neo-pro after three impressive seasons as an under-23 with Trinity Racing. In his first year with the Belgian team, he established himself as a formidable sprinter and support rider who was often seen leading out Paul Magnier in races.
The winner of two stages in the Czech Tour, Lamperti landed on the podium in Nokere Koerse and the Koksijde Classic this spring, but had an inconsistent season afterward.
"This year I was definitely up and down," Lamperti said. "I had times when I had good form and times when I had bad form. I think a lot of that was because I never had a really good base.
"I missed last winter with a small knee injury and I think that affected my whole season this year, especially by the end of the season, I was just cooked."
The 22-year-old ended the year by dropping out of the GPs de Québec and Montréal, the Road World Championships, Coppa Agostoni and Coppa Bernocchi, which he said was "not ideal", but was on the mend.
"I had a nice break and am rebuilding now and looking forward to the new season, especially the Classics and getting underway with my new team."
Lamperti joins EF Education-EasyPost alongside four other young incoming riders, including Canadian Michael Leonard (21) from Ineos Grenadiers, and neo-pros Noah Hobbs (21), Matthias Schwarzbacher (19) and Mattia Agostinacchio (18). The team are losing Rui Costa to retirement and Owain Doull to Visma-Lease a Bike, but have so far not announced the status of at least 11 riders, including Richard Carapaz.
In the team's press release, EF Pro Cycling CEO Jonathan Vaughters described Lamperti as "a great sprinter and a great classics rider who knows how to do a lead out". More impressively for a 22-year-old, Vaughters described him as "a real leader" who "can already be a road captain".
"He has a great ability to lead a group of people on the road, and he knows how to read race tactics incredibly well," Vaughters said. "He's going to be one of our go-to classics guys in the cobbled races. And he is going to be a sprinter that we use quite a bit.
"I also think he's going to be a great mentor for Noah Hobbs, our superstar U23 sprinter that we're bringing on. Doing a grand tour this year along with a heavy schedule like Luke did should set him up for success this coming year. I could see him winning a race like Gent-Wevelgem. If you really want to dream: Milano Sanremo. Luke is good in highly technical, highly tactical races."
For Lamperti, continuing to progress is the biggest goal for his upcoming season.
"I want to get the best out of myself throughout my career," he said. "I want to perform in the best races in the world. For me, it is about continuing to step up until I am going for results in the biggest races."
Cyclingnews will cover all of the 2026 cycling transfers from around the men's and women's pelotons with news, analysis, and an updated transfer index, to make sure you don't miss a thing this transfer season.
