Urán leads EF Education-EasyPost for the Tour de France
Powless, Guerreiro, Bissegger, Cort, Bettiol also included in well-rounded squad
Following Tuesday's reveal of their strange new look for the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes, EF Education-EasyPost have today announced their squad for the Tour.
EF are the final team to announce their squad for the Tour, which starts in Copenhagen on Friday, July 1. Team manager Jonathan Vaughters said on Thursday that they were waiting to ensure all team members were negative for COVID-19 before announcing.
"Not trying to be cute with waiting on roster announcement," he wrote on Twitter. "We just want to make sure everyone tests Covid negative before announcing."
As expected, Rigoberto Urán leads the squad. The Colombian veteran will be taking on his ninth Tour and 21st Grand Tour, with the goal to add another top 10 finish to those of the past three editions.
Urán has had few signs of form so far in 2022, registering 14th at Tirreno-Adriatico and 10th at Itzulia Basque Country. At the recent Tour de Suisse he left the race along with several teammates following positive COVID-19 tests.
"The best riders are here. The teams come prepared with everything, the new material, the new bikes. Everybody is focused on the Tour de France," said Urán. "You see the new developments. All the world is watching. The level is super high. Every stage is hard."
"The riders, the masseurs, the mechanics — everyone is focused and nervous for 21 days. Every second is important. It is very different, starting in Denmark and not in France, but it is especially nice here because there are so many fans in this country."
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"It lasts one month [but] we'll take it day by day. Firstly you need to stay lucky and secondly, healthy. You make a strategy, but you must take it day by day. The most important thing is to sleep well."
EF aren't solely relying on Urán for GC results, though, with Neilson Powless also making the team.
25-year-old American Powless, has been in good form recently, taking fourth overall at the Tour de Suisse in addition to eighth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège back in Spring.
Winner of the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge, Portuguese climber Ruben Guerreiro returns to the Tour after finishing 18th on his debut last year. The 27-year-old won the Giro d'Italia mountains competition two years ago and will be an invaluable part of the team, assisting the GC battle as well as fighting for stage results.
One name to watch during the opening time trial will be Swiss rider Stefan Bissegger. The 23-year-old is the only man who has beaten world time trial champion Filippo Ganna against the clock this year, at the UAE Tour.
Alberto Bettiol and Magnus Cort, who have a combined eight Grand Tour stage wins in their palmares, will be on the hunt for stage victories, too. Bettiol took two top-five places at Suisse, while Cort was in the mix for the win several times during the Giro d'Italia.
"The Tour de France for me is the biggest race of the year," said Bettiol. "The best riders in the world are at the Tour de France, so it is a big show, so I really want to win a stage in this Tour de France.
"That is why I worked so hard, even if I had some trouble during the season with COVID and so on, but I am confident now after the Tour de Suisse. The team is really ambitious for the GC with the stage racers, and we will try to win a couple of stages. I know the race, because I have done it already three times, but I am really looking forward to it."
Debutant Owain Doull and Tour second-timer Jonas Rutsch rounds out the eight-man selection.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including Cycling Weekly and Rouleur.