Owain Doull: I want to carry on racing for as long as I can 🏴
Owain Doull: I want to carry on racing for as long as I can 🏴
Welsh rider commits to EF Education-EasyPost for 2025
Hi subscribers,
Just a short story this afternoon, confirming some news on Owain Doull and his future.
This story is free but please check out my updated transfer listing page. 🚨
It lists every WorldTour transfer and contract extension from the men’s and women’s WorldTour.
Have a great Sunday.
Dan
EF Education-EasyPost have ramped up their transfer announcements with news of arrivals for Kasper Asgreen, Max Walker, Alex Baudin and Samuele Battistella.
Contract extensions, meanwhile, have yet to hit our inboxes but we can confirm that Owain Doull has extended his deal with the American team for 2025.
Speaking exclusively to us at the London 3 Day, the 31-year-old confirmed that he would remain with Jonathan Vaughters’ team.
“I’ve signed up for another year with EF and I’m excited about it,” he said.
“I feel like there have been quite a lot of changes with the team during my time and I guess this is one of the more stable years with just a few riders like Kasper Asgreen and Max Walker announced. Pretty much the biggest name is Kasper coming in and that’s a replacement for Alberto Bettiol but when you have someone come in who has won Flanders and semi-Classics, I think that’s a positive thing. I think it reinvigorates the Classics side of the team,” Doull added.
Doull joined the team in 2021 after turning pro with Team Sky in 2017. Since his arrival on EF, he’s raced each of the three Grand Tours and made himself a regular in the team’s Spring Classics campaign. This year he combined the cobbled Classics with a run at the Vuelta, where he helped Richard Carapaz to fourth overall on GC.
“On a personal note, I was at the highest level I’ve been at for quite a while in the Classics but I crashed in E3 and had a concussion. The first race I came for was Flanders and I was pretty happy with how I went there. In general, it was good and then from the start of the year, it was always the goal to do the Vuelta a España with Richard Carapaz. I felt like I performed well there and did what I needed for the team. Overall it was a really good year, and enjoyable,” Doull said.
The Welsh rider is nearer the end of his career than the start but his enthusiasm is still visible. We interviewed him as he built his Cannondale track bike on the velodrome floor before the London event, and he explained that his love for the sport hasn’t dimmed and that he’s keen to make the most of his remaining years at the top of the sport.
“I want to carry on for as long as possible,” the Welshman said.
“Cycling nowadays is so age-focused. So once you’re over 30 it’s always something that comes into discussion or is a factor with teams but honestly, I feel like I’m racing at my best level and enjoying it just as much. We’ve moved to Andorra as a family so I can carry on racing at the highest level and maximise everything. So it was never a question of stopping. I want to carry on racing for as long as I can and for as long as I’m still enjoying it. I really like EF, the staff, and the rides, so I’m happy to be staying for another year.”
Doull’s race programme for next has yet to be discussed but the tried and trusted format of the Classics and then a Grand Tour is a likely scenario.
“We have our first training camp of the year in November, and the Classics will be the primary focus and then it’s a case of where they want to send me around that. Whether it’s Paris-Nice or Tirreno. And then wherever they want me to support someone in a Grand Tour,” he said.
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