EF Education-EasyPost is adding a haul of young riders with upside, including Michael Leonard from Ineos and soon-to-be-announced signing Matthias Schwarzbacher.
Kristof Ramon, Cor Vos
A youth movement is underway at EF Education-EasyPost. The team announced the signing of 21-year-old Michael Leonard from the Ineos Grenadiers on Wednesday, marking a fourth acquisition under the age of 23 for EF so far this transfer season – and the American WorldTour outfit isn’t quite finished either.
As Jonathan Vaughters first revealed to Escape Collective, EF is also bringing on Slovakian time trial champ Matthias Schwarzbacher from the UAE Gen Z team for next season, making for a total of at least five promising youngsters set to don EF kit in 2026.
The average age of all those signings – less than 21 – is no accident. For a team trying to build a winning roster in 2025, going younger is practically a necessity.
Why are more riders breaking contracts?
It’s not your imagination, and what’s driving the recent trend may lead to a formal transfer market for pro cycling.
“Amongst the top, say, 30 or 40 riders in the world, a lot of them are locked down on quite long-term contracts, and there are very few transfers other than like these crazy $8 million buyout clauses, blah, blah, blah, like with [Remco] Evenepoel,” Vaughters told Escape. “How do you come up with people who can win really big races if you can’t just go out and buy them because you either can’t afford it or there’s just no availability? You have to go and find it. And so we just have basically put a lot of effort into scouting and recruiting out of the junior and U23 ranks.”
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