Healy and Carapaz lead attacking EF line-up at Tour

Both Carapaz and Healy suffered injuries in the spring that forced them to miss their early-season targets, but they will now look to replicate the success they enjoyed at the Tour in recent years.

The EF squad also includes Kasper Asgreen, Michael Valgren, Alex Baudin and Sean Quinn, as well as debutants Max Walker and Georg Steinhauser.

Carapaz was due to lead EF at the Giro d’Italia, but he was forced to miss the race after undergoing surgery on a perineal cyst. The Ecuadorian returns to the Tour for the first time since 2024, when he won a stage and the king of the mountains title. 

Although Carapaz warmed up for the Tour with second overall at the Tour de Suisse, he was coy about his general classification prospects given the depth of the podium contenders on show. He placed third overall at the Tour in 2021.

“The general classification will depend heavily on how the race circumstances unfold,” Carapaz said in a statement released by the time.

“I want to go after stage wins and could try to repeat winning the mountains jersey. That would be beautiful for me, and it's what I desire most for this Tour.”

Healy was one of the stars of last year’s Tour, where his all-action displays netted him a stage victory in Vire, a stint in the yellow jersey and ninth place on GC, as well as the overall Super Combatif prize in Paris.

The Irishman went on to collect a bronze medal at the World Championships in Kigali, but he was forced to miss the Ardennes Classics this year after racing with a fractured sacrum at Itzulia Basque Country. 

“Last year was a standout year and it would be amazing to replicate it, but even half that success would still be a successful Tour in my eyes,” Healy said.

“I’ve had a spring with some bad luck, but I’m in good shape and ready to race. I’m looking forward to being back racing again and hopefully racing at the front.”

Baudin lines up for the Tour on the back of a fine Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where he won the opening stage and held the yellow jersey for five days, while Valgren is chasing his second Grand Tour stage win of the season after his victory in Andalo on the Giro. EF withdrew Valgren from the final days of the Giro in order to spare him for more racing over the summer.

“I honestly hadn’t really imagined I’d be doing the Tour this year, so it’s quite a surprise, but I am feeling good, feeling ready and looking forward to it for sure,” Valgren said.

“After the Giro, I went back into the same routine. With age, professionalism somehow gets easier. I knew I might be doing the Tour, but if not, I was thinking maybe the Tour of Austria or other races. I am having a good season and want to ride that wave. That’s my motivation.”