EF pitch for additional sponsor to win 'both men's and women's Tours de France'

EF Pro Cycling is seeking additional sponsorship with the aim of winning both the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes within the next decade.

While EF Education First will remain the team owner at its existing level of financial investment, CEO Jonathan Vaugthers has announced that he is looking to attract an additional title sponsor to increase the budgets of the men’s and women’s squads.

“It’s rare in professional sport, and nearly unheard of in cycling, for an owner and anchor partner to commit long-term at EF’s current level and still invite an additional title partner to invest purely to make the team stronger,” Vaughters said in a statement on Friday. 

“We owe a great deal to EF. They recognise the incredible opportunity we have to keep building something truly special.”

In Friday’s statement, EF signalled its ambition to win the Tour de France Femmes “within the next three years” and to win “both the men’s and women’s Tours de France within the next decade with riders developed through the EF Pro Cycling system.”

The men’s team, EF Education-EasyPost, was initially founded by Vaughters as a junior development squad in Colorado in 2003. It eventually developed into a WorldTour outfit, sponsored by Garmin and later by Cannondale, before EF took over as title sponsor in 2018.

The women’s team, EF Education–Oatly, was founded in 2024, while EF began a partnership with Michael Creed’s Avelo development squad in 2025.

Although EF recently secured Ben Healy and world champion Magdeleine Vallieres to long-term contracts, the team’s budget is reportedly at the lower end of the WorldTour. Last summer, Reuters estimated the budget to be €21 million, while Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad has a rumoured budget of €65 million.

“Our sport has changed dramatically over the past two decades,” Vaughters said. “WorldTour budgets have risen at an unprecedented pace, and we see this as an opportunity to partner with a brand that shares our vision of winning at the highest level while staying true to who we are.”

Tip: check out the Domestique Hotseat episode with Jonathan Vaughters 👇