NSN sign Richard Carapaz from EF Education to boost Tour de France ambitions

The former Olympic Champion makes the switch after four seasons in the colours of EF Education-EasyPost. Carapaz still had two years remaining on his current contract with the American team, running through until the end of the 2028 season.

“I’m simply very excited. I’m really looking forward to it, and to be honest, this reminds me a lot of when I signed my first professional contract, when I was incredibly excited about being in the WorldTour,” Carapaz said in an official NSN statement.

“I still have the same motivation as I did that day and that’s really an incredible feeling."

Carapaz marks the Swiss-registered team’s seventh signing ahead of 2027, joining fellow EF rider Kasper Asgreen, as well as Cedric Beullens, Santiago Buitrago, Artem Shmidt, Lennert Van Eetvelt and Jens Verbrugghe from the development team.

“I find the NSN project really interesting and after our first conversations, I was convinced this would be the right place for me,” Carapaz said.

Carapaz arrived at EF back in 2022 from Ineos, having also previously ridden for Movistar. Before his arrival, Carapaz had cemented himself as a leader having won the Giro d’Italia in 2019 and finished third at the Tour de France in 2021 before taking the Olympic road race title in Tokyo. 

During his four-year spell at EF, Carapaz scored nine victories. His most recent successes came at the Tour de France, where he won two stages in the Alps en route to winning the mountains classification and finishing eighth overall.

In his final race for the American team, Carapaz finished fourth at the Vuelta a España in September before being ruled out of the World Championships due to health complications.

“Signing Richard Carapaz is a significant moment for our team and an important milestone in the development of our sporting project,” said General Manager Kjell Carlström.