EF Education-EasyPost continue post-Carapaz rebuild for 2027 with two more development team graduates

After the departure of nine riders, including their highest-ranked rider, Richard Carapaz, EF Education-EasyPost have continued to rebuild for the 2027 season, with four graduates from the Development squad announced as stepping up to the WorldTour team.

After US rider Gavin Sherry and British rider Tomos Pattinson were already revealed to be making the jump, EF announced this week that 19-year-old Italian Roberto Capello and 23-year-old US rider Gavin Hlady would join them at the highest level in 2027.

The former had started his path to the pros in Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's junior setup at Team GRENKE-Auto Eder, but joined EF Education-Aevolo for 2026. Despite setbacks due to crashes and injury in the first half of the season, Capello closed out the racing calendar strongly and has now earned the step up he's dreamed of.

They join Tao Geoghegan Hart, Ivan Sosa, Nicholas Milesi, Tobias Bayer, and Emil Herzog as EF's new arrivals for 2027. Team boss Jonathan Vaughters had already confirmed that Carapaz's departure was due to overstretched finances, with development team graduates allowing them to bolster their roster size closer to the 30-rider maximum while keeping the costs down

"I’m looking forward to the future and not looking back. It’s been my dream to race pro since I started cycling. I can’t wait to race with the best riders in the world, and EF Education-EasyPost is a really cool group," said Capello.

"I’ve had my fair share of bad luck this season, but I’m confident I’m in a good position to join the WorldTour with EF Education-EasyPost. They have shown a lot of patience and faith in my qualities as a rider, and I’ve worked really hard since joining the development team at the start of the year. I’m confident I can have a successful 2027 with the team and be a strong rider and teammate.

"Next year I want to try my hand at some short stage races but mostly just gain as much experience as possible. I want to learn from my teammates, and give everything that I can. I can’t wait to start."

His best results so far came as a junior in 2025, taking second at the European Championships road race, sixth in the World Championships time trial, and winning the Italian junior ITT title. Despite the injuries, which mostly prevented him from kicking on fully in 2026, EF are still confident in his abilities as a GC prospect.

"If you see Roberto’s results, he was one of the top riders in 2025. I’m super happy that we signed him," said head of scouting Sebastian Langeveld.

"This year was a bit on and off because of injury, but you can see from his training that he’s super talented. He has an incredible capacity on climbs and against the clock. He’s a very promising GC rider. It will take time, maybe a few years, but he has the qualities even though he’s still super young."

Hlady rode as a stagiaire for the WorldTour squad back at the end of 2024, and then raced for two seasons on the Aevolo squad to earn his way up to a full spot. A two-time under-23 national road race champion, Hlady also finished on the podium of the elite men's road race at the US national champs in 2025 behind Quinn Simmons and Evan Boyle.

"I’m excited to be stepping up and into the next phase of my career with this amazing team," said Hlady.

"Honestly, over the last few years, I always thought joining the WorldTour was possible, but I never thought it was guaranteed, so having this opportunity means so much to me. I truly believe that I have more to give and more room to develop as a rider."

In 2026, he finished second on a stage of the Alpes Isère Tour, and netted top-10s on stages at the Flèche du Sud and Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste. For 2027, Hlady is looking to improve on his versatility, with the team confident he can go in any direction when it comes to specialising.

"Obviously, EF Education-EasyPost has strong American roots, but even if you took that aspect out of the equation, this is the team that I’d want to join. If you lined up all the teams in the men’s WorldTour, I’d choose EF Education-EasyPost every time," he said.

"I’m grateful, and I appreciate that we still have this cool international flavour and culture. I think we’re a really diverse team, and what sets us apart is that at the biggest races we always seem to punch above our weight. It’s an all-or-nothing and fun racing attitude. From the outside, they seem like the best team too because all the staff seem really cool too," he added.

"I want to get stronger, better and faster in every possible way and then see where that takes me. From there, I’ll sit down with the team in November at our next camp, and that’s when we’ll formulate a plan in terms of expectations and race calendar."

"Gavin came with Aevolo, and he’s shown throughout the last couple of years, with his national titles, that he has a lot of upward potential. He raced with the WorldTour team this year, and he did really well as a teammate, and he’s ticked a lot of boxes for us this year," added Langeveld.

"It’s a bit early to determine where he will end up as a rider, but he still has a lot of untapped potential, and we’re going to work with him on getting the best out of himself in the coming season. He can climb, and he might even go in the direction of the classics, but really, it’s about taking our time with the young riders and not rushing them."

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