A successful Tour de France could help the EF Education-EasyPost team secure the additional title sponsorship it is looking for to make the step up to superteam status and fight for Tour victory.
Team manager Jonathan Vaughters has been busy making presentations and trying to convince major brands and companies to invest in the US-registered WorldTour team. VIP guests will join the team at the Tour.
A repeat of Ben Healy's stage victory and spell in the leader's yellow jersey could seal the deal with a major sponsor.
"100%. Absolutely," Vaughters confirmed to Cyclingnews in Barcelona.
"There's no ink on paper yet, but it's going well. We have a lot of guests during the Tour de France who are decision-level-making people, and we hope to impress them.
"We are a unique team, and I think people are attracted to that."
EF Education will target the opening team time trial and then breakaways and stage victories with Healy and Richard Carapaz.
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"That's an obvious goal for us. Ben, bluntly put, is the best breakaway rider in the world, so of course we're gonna be going for that." Vaughters said at the team's pre-Tour press conference on Friday.
"If there's one stated goal that I'd love for this team, it is that every breakaway that makes it to the finish line, we have somebody in there competing for that stage."
2025 stage winner Ben Healy will be key to EF's fortunes at this year's Tour (Image credit: Getty Images)
Team owner Education First has offered sponsors first naming rights to potential new sponsors to pursue the goal of winning the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes in the next decade.
The team hopes to use extra funding to strengthen their rosters and invest in performance so they can compete against UAE Team Emirates, Lidl-Trek and Decathlon CMA CGM.
Specialist data and sponsorship agency Nielsen showed that the EF team created a media value of €98 million during the 2025 WorldTour, an increase from €84 million in 2024.
Vaughters is targeting US-based international brands and companies, who are willing to invest around €30 million per season. Other teams are chasing similar title sponsorship, but Vaughters sees other sports and especially Formula 1 as his biggest rivals.
"We haven't run into any other cycling teams during our talks. For the most part, the competition we run into is Formula One. We've been talking to North American brands with an international outlook," he said.
"Cycling has gotten expensive, so we're having to go up against sports that have a greater degree of notoriety. Because of that, it's pretty competitive, and we have to prove who we are.
"We're doing that, and the Tour de France will help show who we are and why this team is a great project to invest in and join us on a journey to even bigger success."
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
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