The 2023 season will see
Stefan de Bod riding for
EF Education-EasyPost. It was announced today that the South African rider has signed a two-year contract with the American team.
De Bod started his professional career as a member of the training team Dimension Data, and he graduated to the World Tour in 2019. "In the last few years, I have had some very good results, but I have also struggled to discover what type of rider I am," De Bod said. He continues, "I think I can develop into a breakaway specialist for the big races and big tours. But I think I can also become a classification rider for one-week races. That's my long-term goal.”
This season, the South African rider has not had much success, but he hopes to change that soon. He finished seventh in the UAE Tour time trial, fourth in the Sibiu Cycling Tour, sixth in the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, fourth in the Tour of Slovakia, and 15th in the Clásica San Sebastián. "Races like the Tour of Romandie, Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of Switzerland, the Critérium du Dauphiné—those kinds of races are my favourites. They are races with some mountains, some flat stages and normally also a time trial or a prologue. The goal is to get better in such races," explained de Bod.
De Bod has a lot of potential, says Jonathan Vaughters, general manager of EF Education EasyPost. "Stefan is a rider I've been watching for a while. He is an underrated talent who can play an important role in a team like ours that focuses on big results in hilly races. His time trials have been under the radar but clearly indicate his talent. My hope is that we can get everything out of him and he becomes invaluable to our team," concluded Vaughters.
