16/04/2023

Hugh Carthy and Rigoberto Urán lead EF Education-EasyPost at Tour of the Alps and Giro d'Italia

EF Education-EasyPost's plans for the first two Grand Tours of the season are mostly set. The plans were revealed ahead of the Tour of the Alps where two of the team's leaders Rigoberto Urán and Hugh Carthy will be warming up for the Giro d'Italia.

“For the Giro d'Italia, we’ll have Rigoberto Urán and Hugh Carthy, and for the Tour de France, we'll go with Richard to do the best we can," team DS Juan Manuel Gárate told the Escapada podcast. The duo is set to race the Tour of the Alps and was expected to lead the team at the Corsa Rosa, but it has now been confirmed. Richard Carapaz will also head to the Tour de France as expected, with the Vuelta a Espana also a strong possibility.

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"For the Vuelta a España, we haven’t a defined leader yet. We always do a first part of the season up as far as the Tour. Then we see how that has gone and we plan the last part of the season," he continues. The American team also has Neilson Powless who's been performing quite strongly but it is unknown at this point if he will be targeting the overall classification in any Grand Tour.

Carthy was eighth and ninth in the last two editions of the Giro, and albeit going through seasons that haven't been as strong as he shown in 2020, the Briton has recently rode to eighth at Tirreno-Adriatico, showing good signs. Urán has been runner-up in the Corsa Rosa back in 2014 but has recently focused more on stage wins. However after a very strong Vuelta a Espana where he won a stage and finished inside the Top10, the Colombian may be back on track for another attempt at success.

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“He’s a very atypical rider,” Gárate said of Urán. “He's super professional, and even though he may come across as a fun-loving guy, he's extremely professional. He takes great care of himself. In the race he knows where to be at every moment, and he knows that if he has to go to the Giro, he knows what he's going for. You don't have to motivate him much more than that, because he's already going to do the best he can.”