EF Education-EasyPost team boss, Jonathan Vaughters, has tipped two of his Irish riders, Darren Rafferty and Archie Ryan, to take a step forward next season and produce big results.
Both neo pros this year, Rafferty won the road race at the National Road Championships and performed very well in Grand Tour debut, at La Vuelta, while Ryan scored a stage victory at Coppi e Bartali (2.1) as well as taking 3rd overall.
Both adapted very well into their first season at World Tour level, with Ryan showing himself on many occasions as one of the most aggressive climbers in the peloton while Rafferty looks like a fantastic stage race bet for the future.
“We’ve got lots of upside riders I’m looking forward to seeing next season, riders like Lukas Nerurkar, Darren Rafferty, Archie Ryan and others who used this year to adapt to the needs of the WorldTour," said Vaughters.
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"Next year, it’s time for them to start producing. I think they’re all ready to do that. The existing core of the team, riders like Richie (Carapaz), Neilson (Powless), Ben (Healy), Georg (Steinhauser), Sean (Quinn), and Rui (Costa) all had their moments this year. They’ll be just as important to us in 2025,” he added.
The team has added several new riders for next season including Vincenzo Albanese, Kasper Asgreen, Samuele Battistella, Alex Baudin, Alastair MacKellar, Madis Mihkels, and Max Walker.
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Asgreen is a Tour of Flanders winner and racing alongside Ben Healy in the spring classics, they should make a formidable duo. Healy has already placed 4th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and 2nd in Amstel Gold Race.
Vaughters said Baudin could be the team's "breakout rider" next season while Asgreen had been the US-registered squad's "blue chip signing" for 2025.
“I’m confident that (Baudin will) produce some very surprising results. His style is super aggressive, he doesn’t hold back, and he’s a GC rider who isn’t afraid to attack and put it all on the line.
"He’s built in more robustness with another grand tour under his belt in 2024, so next season he could take that to the next level.
“With Kasper, our job is to help him get back to the level he was at in 2021 when he won Flanders and recapture that magic. He’s a really intelligent rider and has already adjusted to making improvements.
"You could see that with his sixth place at the worlds. He’s very quickly coming back to that highest level and the indications are that he fit in nicely at team camp.”
