EF Education-EasyPost complete Vuelta a Espana startlist as they reveal mountain-focused team

EF Education-EasyPost, in their traditional style, have been the final team to announce their lineup for the Vuelta a Espana, and they have revealed a climber-oriented lineup that will look to fight for strong results.

On paper the overall classification will be a target, team DS Juan Manuel Garaté admitted in a press release: “With Esteban, Rigo, and Hugh in the team, we have three riders who have been on the podium in big tours. We want to do a good GC with them.” The American team will have three options for the GC, with 2020 podium finisher Hugh Carthy being one of them.

Colombians Rigoberto Urán and Esteban Chaves complete the trident. The two latter have struggled to find good form this season, however Chaves has ridden strong in June with a seventh place at the Critérium du Dauphiné and a second spot at the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge - although he has not finished in the Top10 of a Grand Tour after his podium here in Spain in 2016.

The team is urgently looking for UCI points, and the rest of the team will also focus on the mountains. Mark Padun will be hoping to return to form, whilst Jonathan Caicedo, Merhawi Kudus and James Shaw providing more firepower in the uphill, with Julius van den Berg being the team's sole domestique for the flat terrain.

EF Education-EasyPost for Vuelta a Espana: Hugh Carthy, Jonathan Caicedo, Esteban Chaves, Merhawi Kudus, Mark Padun, James Shaw, Rigoberto Urán and Julius van den Berg.