16/11/2022

EF Education-EasyPost manager Jonathan Vaughters calls World Tour relegation battle "A really absurd way of racing"

Despite doing enough to successfully retain their World Tour status, EF Education-EasyPost manager Jonathan Vaughters has not pulled any punches when discussing the relegation scrap that ensued this year, calling it "a really absurd way of racing".

In an interview with Cycling Weekly, Vaughters discussed his frustrations at how the team had to go for points rather than wins, "You couldn’t totally sacrifice any one person to get the race win, because we needed all three guys to score" he lamented. "It’s a really absurd way of racing and super annoying for everyone in the organisation to race like that when you’re just trying to sort of stack up a bunch of guys in the top 20."

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As a result of retaining their World Tour status, EF were able to attract 2019 Giro d'Italia winner and reigning Olympic champion, Richard Carapaz for the 2023 season. Vaughters was full of praise for the Ecuadorian "He’s a very versatile rider, he can win one-day races, he’s the Olympic champion, he can win stages at Grand Tours."

When pressed on Carapaz's potential Tour de France winning chances, Vaughters sounded confident "The route is very suited to his characteristics as a rider. He’s an aggressive rider, an attacking rider. Time trialling is a little bit of his Achilles heel, so it’s a Tour route that’s very suited to him." Before adding, "the route’s a nice gift from ASO. So, thank you.”

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One thing Vaughters and EF Education-EasyPost will be continuing into next season is the extra races taken up when battling against relegation. “The idea will be to send riders to some of those races that we normally might not have done, but are suited to us,” he said, “like a Tour of Norway or a Milano-Torino."

Going into the next 3-year cycle though they won't be chasing World Tour points, “We’re not going to chase around races in Belgium and France that, quite frankly, we just never recruited for.” Vaughters is quick to point out. “It is what it is, but I will look forward to not racing like that."