"Our offer was less than half of UAE's": Jonathan Vaughters admits he tried everything he could to sign Isaac del Toro

Talent scouting is becoming vital to any big team's future plans. That is why, as of 2026, every single WorldTour team (except the newcomer Uno-X Mobility) had established an official under-23 development structure with INEOS Grenadiers and Movistar most recent to join the party last winter. However a quick analysis confirms that the biggest teams seem have a priority when scanning through the talent pool, leaving middle-of-the-pack teams such as EF Eduaction-EasyPost in a precarious situation if they aim to find their future star.

Yet the project led by Jonathan Vaughters continues to produce excellent cyclists year after year. The 2026 team will be spearheaded by 25-year-old Ben Healy whose palmares - in 2025, Healy won a Tour de France stage and podiumed road World Championships as well as Liege-Bastogne-Liege - and commitment to the team speak volumes about the quality of EF's work.

"To be honest, we were lucky to keep Healy because we weren’t the most beneficial option for him," he told Domestique. "Ben made his decision based on loyalty and feelings over financial considerations, something unusual these days in cycling. But that won't happen every time. In fact, it almost never will."

However Healy's case is quite special as most riders who boast similar talent as the Irishman end up with one of the cycling's main powerhouses; UAE Team Emirates - XRG, Visma | Lease a Bike, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, Lidl-Trek, or INEOS Grenadiers.

To prevent that from happening, team's have to monitor potential prospects already in the junior, if not cadet categories. However identifying a generational talent doesn't always guarantee he'll choose to build his career in your structure. In such cases money often do most of the talking. And teams like UAE can obviously afford to throw a thicker stack on the table compared to EF.

"It’s one thing to discover a 16- or 17-year-old kid - if you found him, then Matxin did too," Vaughters sighs. "So, it’s one thing to be the first to identify him, and another to be the guy who convinces him to sign with your team," he said.

"With Isaac Del Toro as an example, I fought as hard as I could to get that kid. We were very involved with him from the beginning. We had him identified, and we would have given him what would have been the biggest contract for a rookie in our history. But of course, our offer was less than half of what UAE threw at him, so naturally he went to that team. It made sense," he finished his story.

The name of Del Toro isn't brought up by coincidence. In a bizarre turn of events, EF's GC leader Richard Carapaz ended up in an epic duel against the Mexican during the 2025 Giro d'Italia. Only for both Southamericans to ultimately end up being outfoxed by Simon Yates on Colle delle Finestre.

However being successful at the age of 16 not always translates to becoming a top star in WorldTour. "With young talent, eight out of ten either don't amount to anything or aren't great. So you're throwing money at failed projects over and over again. But the two that work might be Del Toro and Pogacar. If you can afford those expenses, at some point it will work out." That's what UAE seems to have perfected, according to Vaughters.

But that doesn't mean young riders can't bloom at a later age, like Ben Healy who was a more than solid racer in his junior days, but he only truly bloomed in his second year with EF, aged 22 at the time. "Ben wasn’t a superstar as a junior; nobody expected him to reach the level he has, but we have a history of developing riders that nobody had in mind," he commented.

"But then INEOS or some other team comes along offering millions to break the contract. I experienced that before with Bradley Wiggins, and it’s not pleasant to have them snatched away like that," Vaughters recalled a painful break-up with the future Tour de France winner at the end of 2009 back when his team was known under the name Team Garmin - Slipstream.