Richard Carapaz is 33 and has a contract with EF Education-EasyPost until the end of 2027. The news on 16 October is that he would leave the American team early for NSN Cycling of Andrés Iniesta.
The move is not confirmed, and it is not known for how long the Ecuadorian would have signed. Meanwhile, the question for those who follow the Grand Tours is a different one: what kind of climber is joining a team that is putting together quite a few? The answer lies in his 2026, from the Tour’s climbs to the Vuelta.
A contract to break with a year to run
Breaking a contract early has a cost, and the reason is concrete: EF’s budget is stretched to the limit.
It is not known whether the deal with NSN is a long one or a one-season bridge. Until a statement arrives it remains an unknown, and it weighs on everything else.
The departure is not entirely a surprise. In the summer of 2026 Johan Bruyneel said on a podcast that Carapaz would most likely not ride for EF the following year. Now that forecast has a team name.
For EF it would mean losing their leader for the big climbs.
NSN beat the competition
NSN Cycling, the Swiss WorldTeam run by former footballer Iniesta, would have won the race for Carapaz’s signature. Left behind were Netcompany INEOS and Pinarello-Q36.5.
The INEOS name weighs more than the others: Carapaz rode for them, and a return to his old team was a real option. Instead a young outfit, born in 2026 out of Israel Premier Tech, came out on top.
A team of climbers taking shape
NSN’s 2027 transfer market already has a design. Kasper Asgreen has arrived from EF, Santiago Buitrago from Bahrain Victorious, Lennert Van Eetvelt and Cedric Beullens from Lotto-Intermarché, Artem Shmidt from Netcompany INEOS. The best-known name on the roster remains Biniam Girmay.
With Buitrago and Van Eetvelt already signed, Carapaz would complete a climbing block.
It remains to be seen how NSN will use him. At EF he chose whether to chase stages or the general classification, and that freedom bore fruit both in July and in September. With other climbers looking for room, it is the open question.
A 2026 that broke down and then restarted
The year began badly. Carapaz lost his mother early in the year and in April underwent surgery for a perineal cyst: he missed the Giro d’Italia, which was his first objective.
His return came in June, in Switzerland: third at the GP Gippingen, then second overall at the Tour de Suisse. From there began the season that is now worth a new contract.
Alpe d’Huez, the stage that tells you what kind of climber he is
At the 2026 Tour de France Carapaz was not aiming for the general classification: he wanted a stage and the polka-dot jersey. In the third week he won at Orcières-Merlette and at Alpe d’Huez, finished top of the climbers’ standings and was named the most combative rider in Paris. Two Alpine wins in three days.
The heart of it is the twentieth stage, on 25 July, from Le Bourg-d’Oisans over the Croix de Fer, Télégraphe, Galibier and Sarenne. On the Galibier Carapaz took the maximum Souvenir Henri Desgrange points, and the polka-dot jersey became his in the arithmetic too: the second of his career after the one in 2024.
Sepp Kuss had gone clear on the Sarenne, with a solid lead. Then two crashes in a kilometre, at 7 and 6 from the finish, and Carapaz caught him on the technical descent that leads to the short final ramp. He won by 26” over Evenepoel, with Kuss third. Pogačar, a day away from a fifth Tour, and Del Toro finished further back: the race for the yellow jersey was over, the one for the stage was not.
From the Clásica San Sebastián to the Vuelta
A week after the Tour Carapaz was second at the Clásica San Sebastián, beaten in a sprint by Remco Evenepoel, the same rival he had left behind at Alpe d’Huez. The legs had not run out in France.
At the Vuelta a España he was aiming for the general classification and finished fourth: not the podium he was after, but another fourth place in a race where he already has two. He pulled out of the World Championships in Montréal because he was tired, saying he had to listen to his body, and after the Vuelta he did not race again.
What he brings to NSN in the Grand Tours
With EF Education-EasyPost Carapaz won 9 races in four seasons, including Tour stages and the polka-dot jerseys of 2024 and 2026. To NSN he would bring a Grand Tour leader with real wins in the mountains, on the days that decide the race, with Buitrago and Van Eetvelt alongside him.
Three things remain to be seen: the official confirmation, the length of the contract and the race calendar. The latter will show whether his 2027 looks to the general classification of a Grand Tour or to the mountain stages, as he chose to do in July.
News written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- WielerFlits, “Richard Carapaz breaks his contract at EF Education-EasyPost for NSN Cycling”.
- Velo, “Roglič, Carapaz, Bernal: Retirement Talk and Bombshell Rumors Leave Questions over 3 Grand Tour Greats”.
- Photo: Hugo LUC, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; editing: la fagIAnata.
