Our Tour de France eight

The team has a layered set of objectives and ways to achieve them. Some, like stages, are obvious goals of every team. But so often teams plan and the Tour de France laughs. Its 3,405 kilometers over serpentine roads and through teeming masses of fans are as predictable as mountain weather. Hence our lineup — it’s a team built to adapt and capitalize over a mixture of terrain and circumstance. It’s a team of racers, first and foremost.

Some fit into boxes as a climber, a breakaway man. And some don’t. We’re going to attack the race. The Tour is often a showcase of muscle and a sheer test of firepower. But there are nuances and cracks in the race this team is built to explore, and races within the race take shape.

“This Tour, this route — it’s challenging to predict, especially given the early days in Bilbao. You know certain guys will be strong, sure. I’m excited about the team we’re sending because it’s so dynamic and flexible,” said Jonathan Vaughters, team CEO. “Richard, we know what he’s capable of, and we also know he’s great at reading a race and reacting. He’s tremendously exciting for us. We will support him in his exploits, and we’re also keeping our options open when it comes to attacking the race. Powless — he rode more kilometers than anyone in the breaks last year I think, and we hope he takes the next step this year. Magnus is a stage winner. Rigo, also a stage winner… on a single speed, no less. On paper, this is a great team. I’m excited to see how the race takes shape and how the whole team, riders and staff, come together to meet the challenge of the Tour.”

Hear from each of our riders below:

Alberto Bettiol
It is going to be really tough. We have a super high quality team. Of course, the big name is going to be Richard because he is a champion, so he deserves to be our captain, but we also have Rigo and Neilson, riders who are in great shape right now and then we have a lot of options for one-day stages: me and Magnus and Neilson. It is a strong team, a really expert team with a lot of experience. We will try to do what we can.

My ambition will be to try to win a stage. That is for sure, because last year I was so close. It would be nice to win a stage in the Tour de France. I worked really hard. I had to adapt my season to arrive in the best shape for the Tour de France, by doing the Giro d’Italia, to be more ready. I also want to show to the Italian fans that I will be ready for the world championships, which is two weeks after Paris. For me this year, the Tour de France is an extra motivation for the new date of the world championships.

The Tour de France is for me special, a special race. It is one of the biggest events in sport on the planet. Every year, the Tour de France is one of the main goals for me and for this team for sure, so we and I have to give 100%, even more, because to win a stage in the Tour de France means a lot for a bike rider, for a team, for all of the staff that work together for three, four, five months and they all wait for this month when the Tour de France happens.

Andrey Amador
I feel really good and motivated. I've made huge sacrifices to be able to be in the shape I am in physically. It had been awhile since I was last this strong.

It is very exciting to return to the Tour de France after two years of not racing it. The Tour de France for any cyclist is a dream and will remain so. There are always some nerves, but also over the years you know what you are facing and how to cope with the day to day. I always think that a great Tour has to go day by day. It’s normal that over 21 days, there are good days and some not so good days.

My goal is clear, to provide as much support as possible to the team. One of my duties is to ride out of my skin for this team that has trusted me and I will do so. We will see how things unfold over the days and how best to manage things.

It’s a great joy to be named to our Tour squad and to give my 100% commitment to arrive in my best condition. I want to give back to the team for the trust they have placed in me. I will give everything I have for the team, my teammates and the people who have always been supporting me.

Esteban Chaves
I heard the news that I would be on the Tour team and it is pretty exciting. After more than a decade of being a professional, hearing the news made me pumped. That means it is important and that means that I care about it and that I am still dreaming. The Tour de France is my dream. After I hung up with the DS and he had told me that I would do the Tour de France, I called my parents and I said this time you need to come, because I want you in Paris with me. They have never been. And it is a dream. It is where everything started for me, sitting on the couch, watching the Tour de France on television and just dreaming about being there and I am part of this now. I am actually living the dream. It is exciting. It is scary. It is a lot of emotions at the same time.

It is a big responsibility as well, and I am looking forward to it. We have worked really hard, with all the people around: the team, my family, my wife. Every single one is a little bit of this. And because of all of these people, so all of you guys, I can be a part of the team. Everybody works and we are looking forward to doing everything really well and playing the cards really well and making the dream come true.

We have a really nice and strong team. We can do a really nice GC. There is a lot of climbing this year: 14 stages are really tough, hard. And we can play the cards for stage wins with different riders, of course myself will be one of the riders to do that with the climbs. We can chase the mountain jersey. Why not? Why not?!

James Shaw
Who would have thought, eh? The Tour de France. What a bike race. I didn’t really know what to make of it. The whole thing came about at the Dauphiné when I was riding better than I have ever ridden and it obviously didn’t go unnoticed. Our DS Charly pulled me over on the last day and he said, look, we’ll put you on the long list. We’ll send you home to prepare. Don’t do Ventoux Challenge. Go home and get ready and prepare as if you are going to go and I thought, is he pulling my leg? He said he is considering me, but is it a serious consideration and stuff? So I was like oh, don’t build yourself up too much. So I prepared as if I was going to go. I put everything into it, the best recovery I could have done, that sort of jazz. And then he rang me and said we’ll crack on with it, we’ll do it. So I thought, oh, this is actually going to happen. I was a bit sort of taken aback by it. I didn’t really know what to do.

I am a bit nervous. I am a bit scared. It is obvious from the guys who are going that I am there to be the best teammate I can. We have got a hell of a roster. Starting on that start line is going to be incredible. Personally, Paris is something that I have on my mind. I want to make it all the way to, but along the way I want to make sure I am doing the job that I am going there to do and be there for the guys and Carapaz and all the boys get what they need and I can get to that finish line on wherever and whatever day and I can get on that bus knowing that I gave it everything for Neilson or whoever that job was for that day. I am in the best shape I have ever been in. I think now is the moment, now is the time to do it as well, so I am super excited.

I have this attitude in life that there are two people that you have got to make proud and they are the eight-year-old version of yourself and the eighty-year-old version of yourself. As long as the eight-year-old version of you looks up to you at the minute and thinks yeah, that guy is who I want to be and the eighty-year-old version of you looks back at you and says yeah, that is the person that I wanted to be, then it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks or feels. I think the eight-year-old version of James would be blown away right now.

Magnus Cort
I am excited as always. It is not my first Tour de France, but it is still by far the biggest race, and no matter how many times I have been there, it is a race I am excited to go for and also nervous about. We’ll see how things are going and how things will be with the team and how things will be for myself.

For the most part, my role will be to support the team and especially Carapaz. My role will be to be a good teammate, but I hope there will be a day or two where I can find opportunities for myself as well. There are a small handful of stages that could maybe suit me from a breakaway, but I don’t want to say yet which ones!

Neilson Powless
We’re getting close. I’m ready to head to Bilbao.

I think that the prep that I have done has brought me to the right level of fitness at exactly the right time. I am really confident that I got the peak right this year and hopefully I can show that in the Tour.

Obviously if I could win a stage, that would be incredible. That would be my Tour made if that happens, but if we have Richie or Rigo up in GC and we can get someone on the podium that would be incredible as well. I am going to have to be pretty fluid with it, with what my goals are going to be, because depending on what position we are going to be in with the team it is going to change. If we have someone going for GC, I could have a really satisfying Tour helping to get them on the podium but if it looks like we have a bit more freedom, winning a stage would be incredible.

We have riders who are willing to take chances to get a really amazing result. We are definitely bringing a squad of racers and that is really exciting. It is guys that are punchy, can attack, are not afraid to attack and hopefully we can use that to our advantage and be at the front of the race throughout the Tour.

Richard Carapaz
I’m excited for the Tour to finally get underway. I'm training for it and I've been away from home for a long time and I am ready for it to start, really.

This race has been the primary goal that I set for myself in October of last year and I have been working towards it. In the end, I always want to do things in the best way and now that we are at the gates of the Tour, physically I feel good. I am very well prepared and above all I have a great eagerness to start. I hope that everything turns out in the best way and that I can be there ready for everything.

It is a very tough Tour route this year. From the first days in the Basque Country it will be complicated but I also really like some of the stages. We are bringing a team that can get a nice result and that’s what we’re hoping for.

This is a team with a lot of experience. There are guys who have done several Grand Tours, who have a lot of experience and above all, they have a lot of talent. I think it's going to be a team that's going to be up to the task of meeting the objectives that we've set for ourselves. It's going to be a nice adventure with them.

Rigoberto Urán
I feel great, I am very happy that the Tour is about to start. It’s a race that I love. Obviously once you are there you get a little nervous and excited but I’m very happy to be part of this Tour team.

This will be my tenth Tour de France. Having a lot of experience at the Tour helps a lot. I am able to share with the team some of my experience, some happiness. Obviously every Tour is special, every Tour is hard, and experience is important but the legs are the most important.

For me the Tour de France means everything. It’s the biggest race. Every kid’s dream is to ride the Tour once. It’s always an honor to ride it, but also to ride in EF colors. I’ve already finished many Tours and that’s why I have to take advantage of every moment and every opportunity.