Richard Carapaz absence forces complete rethink as EF Education-EasyPost become final team to unveil Giro d’Italia 2026 lineup
Cycling
EF Education-EasyPost have become the final team to confirm their lineup for the 2026 Giro d’Italia, with the late withdrawal of Richard Carapaz forcing a complete reset in the squad’s approach to the race.
Rather than arriving in Italy built around a Maglia Rosa challenge, EF now head to the Giro with a far more open and aggressive strategy centred around stage hunting, breakaways and individual opportunities across the three weeks.
The team’s eight-man lineup consists of James Shaw, Jefferson Alexander Cepeda, Darren Rafferty, Michael Valgren, Markel Beloki, Samuele Battistella, Madis Mihkels and Jardi van der Lee.
“We don’t have a leader for GC”
The clearest indication of EF’s tactical shift came from inside the team itself. “We don't have a leader for GC, so we will try different things,” Beloki explained in a press release. “We’ll sprint for Madis and then we will try to win from breakaways. Each rider is going to try on the day he feels good.”
That theme ran throughout the squad announcement. Without Carapaz, there is no longer a single hierarchy around general classification protection. Instead, EF appear ready to embrace the unpredictability of the Giro route and give multiple riders freedom across different stages.
Darren Rafferty admits Giro “feels weird” without Carapaz
Among the most revealing comments came from Rafferty, who acknowledged how different this year’s Giro dynamic feels compared to previous Grand Tours. “It is weird not having Richie this year,” the Irishman admitted. “The last two grand tours that I've been a part of have both been for GC. This year, I should hopefully have my own chances during the three weeks.”
“I’ll grab the opportunity with both hands and see what I can get out of it," he adds. "We’re each going to get our own chances. I think that will work out well in the end.”
That freedom could make EF one of the most active teams in the race despite the absence of a genuine overall contender.
Irishman Darren Rafferty could be a threat for a breakaway stage win
Shaw targeting career-defining result
Shaw echoed similar ambitions as he prepares for another Giro appearance. “We want to win as many stages as possible,” the Brit explained. “Madis can win from a sprint, and then the rest of us are going to try to win from breakways.”
“Trying to win a grand tour stage is the thing that’s been hacking around in the back of my head for my whole career," he concluded. "It would validate all the work that I’ve done in the sport.”
New kit, new identity
The lineup reveal also comes days after EF unveiled their eye-catching “Ride In Peace” special edition Giro kit created in collaboration with ASSOS. With the team’s usual pink colours banned due to the similarity to the Maglia Rosa jersey, EF instead opted for a neon green and pink design built around an extraterrestrial theme, continuing the team’s annual tradition of using the Giro as a platform for one-off visual identities.
In many ways, the jersey reflects the wider sporting picture around the team entering this year’s race. The original plans built around Carapaz have disappeared, replaced instead by a far more unpredictable and opportunistic approach. Rather than controlling the Giro, EF now look set to attack it from every angle they can
EF Education-EasyPost for the 2026 Giro d'Italia:
| Rider |
| Samuele Battistella |
| Markel Beloki |
| Jefferson Alexander Cepeda |
| Madis Mihkels |
| Darren Rafferty |
| James Shaw |
| Michael Valgren |
| Jardi van der Lee |
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- As much as I admire and even revere Wout, the less I know about his backside the better.MidnightRider06-11-2026
- Ok, Walt 🤣... Vingegaard would be lucky to get on the poduim. He would not beat Seixas or Del Toro, let alone TP. Then there are the Americans...BD06-11-2026
- So, for starters. Cycling is a saturated, static/dying sport in traditional lands, it will not have resurgences like eg running occasionally does because of several obstacular (yes, I know that’s not a word but don’t make me point out the obvious at your expense) factors. Obviously, like almost everything involving money, there is a desire/need/advantage to growth and that can only come from (developing or just testing) new markets. For me, the WC is the obvious and best choice for several reasons, it comes at the end of the season so is less critical season risk wise, it is not a “pro” team race but nation based which makes integration of uncommon participation more natural. It is a vehicle for redistribution (one of a very limited number of available mechanisms to develop new markers fairly) that the fixed calendar doesn’t allow and it helps make budgets fairer over the long run (moving the whole circus to everywhere evens out everyone’s budget as opposed to having everyone always come to the same location.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- Sad that a more refreshing article like this, which could generate discussion in a number of directions, gets completely ignored for the importance of debating the level of superiority of one rider into every single last detail, including a majority of totally hypothetical ones. People complain there is no news in the off season and it’s boring but don’t realise how boring it is to review the same old discussion over and over again, several times a day. In fact, you’d almost think this was a rider fan website. Instead of complaining about the FREE (as long as you pay attention to data use if not unlimited coz this site consumes almost as much for loading Youtube) content, the presence of cv of authors (for the missed obvious reason that it makes it easier to insert extra advertising without changing formats), the lack of quality/checking and depth of articles, why not also think about the content, quality and variety of posts that everyone can contribute to? The platform becomes irrelevant when discussion is interesting.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar will officially unveil their objectives at the team’s media day, which will take place on December 18 in Benidorm, Spain. New information from the UAE Team: Exceptional recovery remains the cornerstone of success for the Slovenian cannibal-Pogi, whose sporting manager, Matxin, believes he will be even better in 2027 than he has been over the past three seasons.PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
- Great win.However will the world champions jersey be simply a domestic for the season which will some what tarnish the jersey. I hope he is given free rein to try and win some races.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Gretsky wow how old are you lol. Classy sportman though.🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hope it is a good as the one they made on Mark Cavendish.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Literally the perfect RedBull athlete.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments