EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST

The team formerly known as Garmin made its Tour de France debut fourteen years ago in Brest. It is living proof that financial clout and programming are not the be-all and end-all of modern cycling. Although it has one of the smallest budgets in the division and often has to contend with the uncertainties clouding its future, it managed to place Rigoberto Urán on the second step of the podium in 2017. Pink-clad Education First has since picked up the baton with Cannondale's support. The origin story of this American team lies in the anti-doping philosophy championed by manager Jonathan Vaughters and David Millar, a rider who rose from the ashes following a salutary break.

Christian Vande Velde's fourth place in Paris in 2008 heralded another three unexpected top 10 finishes: Bradley Wiggins, fourth in 2009, Ryder Hesjedal, seventh in 2010 and Tom Danielson, ninth in 2011. Andrew Talansky's tenth place in 2013 put the team back on track after a wretched performance in 2012, when it was involved in a mass crash in Lorraine. In 2014, after winning the Critérium du Dauphiné, the American pit bull was forced to quit the Tour with a heavy heart and a battered body, but the team staged an emotional comeback with Ramūnas Navardauskas's victory in Bergerac.

The outfit from Boulder, Colorado, then entered a barren spell that would last until Urán's bike thrust won the day in Chambéry in 2017. In 2015, Talansky finished eleventh overall and second in Pra-Loup, Dan Martin was second in Mûr-de-Bretagne and Cauterets, and Hesjedal finished third on the Alpe d'Huez. The team was then stuck in the doldrums for several editions, as a conservative Urán settled for seventh in 2019. In 2018, the American squad was the talk of the town when Lawson Craddock became the first ever rider to rank dead last in the general classification from the very start of the race to the end. After cracking his shoulder blade in a crash on the opening stage he soldiered on all the way to Paris. The 2020 Tour de France was buzzing with excitement over the debut of rising star Sergio Higuita, but it was fellow Colombian Daniel Martínez who stole the show with his victory on Puy Mary. Last year, with a third-place finish, Higuita was not far from a stage win in Quillan. He enjoyed a better finish to the Tour (with eighth place on the Col du Portet pass and seventh at Luz Ardiden) than Rigoberto Urán, who dropped from second place in the general classification on the evening of the Mont Ventoux stage to tenth in Paris. However, at the age of 35 years, the Colombian remains the spearhead of the American team.