Nairo Quintana tops shrinking unsigned rider listing as Valgren, Costa renew with EF Training-EasyPost
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Professional biking’s annual recreation of Musical Chairs is weeks away from ending and 44 WorldTour riders have but to signal new contracts for the 2025 season. Amongst these but to be confirmed, Colombian Nairo Quintana at present tops the listing by way of factors scored throughout this season.
Quintana was unable to discover a group for 2023 after being disqualified from the 2022 Tour de France for testing optimistic for Tramadol. Movistar signed him for 2024 on a one-year contract. Quintana struggled with sickness and damage within the early season and scrapped his GC ambitions for the Giro d’Italia. He completed second on the stage to Livigno however went winless throughout the yr.
Two riders from our earlier listing of unsigned riders have renewed with EF Training-EasyPost: Rui Costa signed by 2025 and Michael Valgren by 2026 this week, their agent at CORSO confirmed to Cyclingnews. Along with Madis Mihkels, Vincenzo Albanese, Samuele Battistella, Kasper Asgreen, Alex Baudin and Max Walter, the American group has 26 riders confirmed for subsequent yr.
EF-EasyPost have but to announce whether or not Alexander Cepeda, Esteban Chaves, Stefan De Bod and James Shaw will stay with the group. Cepeda is among the many top-ranked riders but to be confirmed for 2025.
Additionally on the listing of riders looking for groups is Elia Viviani, who was not on Ineos’ roster of 30 riders. Leo Hayter, one other one to not make the British group’s minimize, has been affected by melancholy and introduced in a press release this summer season that he wouldn’t proceed with the group.
Taco van der Hoorn, who helped to usher Intermarché-Wanty into the WorldTour with sturdy leads to 2021 and 2022, has been combating the after-effects of a concussion he suffered in 2023. He returned to racing in June after 14 months away from competitors and claimed his first win final month on the Betcity Elfstedenrace.
Mads Würtz Schmidt, 30, can also be in search of a brand new group based on his agent at CORSO after not making the minimize with Israel-Premier Tech for 2025.
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Groups confirmed a desire for youthful riders and riders who can rating factors because the WorldTour groups method the ultimate yr of the UCI’s three-year promotion/relegation cycle.
Of the 18 WorldTour groups, no less than seven have closed their rosters for 2025: Alpecin-Deceuninck are full with 29 whereas Bahrain-Victorious, Cofidis, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Ineos Grenadiers, Souda-Quickstep and Jayco-AlUla and ProTeams Israel-Premier Tech and Tudor Professional Biking have reached the utmost group dimension of 30.
Of the riders who’ve signed for 2025, the typical age is 27.6 whereas the typical age of the unsigned riders is 28.6, which highlights males’s professional biking’s desire for youthful riders.
The oldest riders who’ve nonetheless not signed for subsequent yr embody Cameron Wurf (41), Yukiya Arashiro (40), Ben Hermans and Dmitriy Gruzdev (38)
There are six riders 23 or underneath who haven’t discovered groups, with Colombian Santiago Umba (Astana) the youngest at 21.
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