Latest news with #JonathanVaughters
NBC Sports
4 hours ago
- Business
- NBC Sports
Vaughters: Stage 17 will be 'really aggressive'
EF Education-EasyPost general manager Jonathan Vaughters joins Paul Burmeister, Brent Bookwalter and Tejay van Garderen to preview Stage 17 of the 2025 Tour de France and share how proud he is of Irish cyclist Ben Healy.
Straits Times
16-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
EF team happy to be underdogs in battle of cycling's big beasts
TOULOUSE, France - While World Tour giants like UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike flex their financial muscle at the Tour de France, EF Education-EasyPost team boss Jonathan Vaughters is happy to be chasing in a different kind of pack. "I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack," Vaughters told Reuters, in reference to rival team Soudal Quick-Step's famously aggressive branding. "Maybe we're like the dachshund pack," he added, pointing to his rider Ben Healy's "sausage dog" by the team bus before the start of Wednesday's 11th stage. The metaphor is a light-hearted one, but the economic truth is brutal. EF Education-EasyPost have a budget estimated at less than $25 million, which puts them in the bottom third of the 2025 Tour teams, dominated by defending champion Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG (around $65 million). Vaughters said competing against cycling's financial behemoths is a constant battle in a sport that lacks regulatory parity. "Professional cycling is one of the few high-level professional sports left in the world that does not have some sort of financial fairness regulation," he said. "And that makes it exceptionally difficult for the middle or the smaller teams to exist." Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Sport 'Like being in a washing machine with 40 deg C water': Open water swimmers brave challenging conditions Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Business Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh demands to pay up $3.3m debt for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets Singapore Countering misinformation requires both laws and access to trusted news sources: Josephine Teo Still, EF has managed to do more than just exist. Helped by their bright pink jerseys, they've been visible, creative, and successful. The team claimed a stage win and won the King of the Mountains (polka dot) jersey last year. This year, they won a stage through Healy, who snatched the overall leader's yellow jersey after Monday's 10th stage. "Last year we won the polka dot jersey. Last year was good, too. People forget we had the yellow jersey one day last year, too. They forget about it. I don't know why," Vaughters said. "But actually, that's an example that those two, three really big teams kind of overshadow everything." STRATEGIC APPROACH EF Education-EasyPost are accountable to a sponsor that views cycling as a measurable marketing tool, not just a passion project. "EF isn't the sponsor that is just here because the owner likes cycling and writes the cheque or whatever," Vaughters said. "EF is here because they view it as more efficient marketing than if they purchased other forms of marketing, okay? So we're actually held to a very high standard when it comes to marketing metrics." That drives the team's strategic approach with EF often avoiding the general classification and sprint battles dominated by big-budget squads, opting instead for opportunistic breakaways and high-impact moments. "What we try to do... is we basically have to come in and think, okay, well, how can we create (a moment)," Vaughters said. "You can't do the same thing every single year. You can't say, 'well, what worked when we were Garmin (more than 10 years ago) will work now'. There are certain cultural things that we keep intact, sort of the lighthearted spirit - the fact that we take the work very seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously." It's a culture EF prides itself on — a contrast to the hyper-serious image of other teams. "We take our work every bit as seriously as Soudal," Vaughters said. "But I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack." REUTERS
CNA
16-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
EF team happy to be underdogs in battle of cycling's big beasts
TOULOUSE, France :While World Tour giants like UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike flex their financial muscle at the Tour de France, EF Education-EasyPost team boss Jonathan Vaughters is happy to be chasing in a different kind of pack. "I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack," Vaughters told Reuters, in reference to rival team Soudal Quick-Step's famously aggressive branding. "Maybe we're like the dachshund pack," he added, pointing to his rider Ben Healy's "sausage dog" by the team bus before the start of Wednesday's 11th stage. The metaphor is a light-hearted one, but the economic truth is brutal. EF Education-EasyPost have a budget estimated at less than $25 million, which puts them in the bottom third of the 2025 Tour teams, dominated by defending champion Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG (around $65 million). Vaughters said competing against cycling's financial behemoths is a constant battle in a sport that lacks regulatory parity. "Professional cycling is one of the few high-level professional sports left in the world that does not have some sort of financial fairness regulation," he said. "And that makes it exceptionally difficult for the middle or the smaller teams to exist." Still, EF has managed to do more than just exist. Helped by their bright pink jerseys, they've been visible, creative, and successful. The team claimed a stage win and won the King of the Mountains (polka dot) jersey last year. This year, they won a stage through Healy, who snatched the overall leader's yellow jersey after Monday's 10th stage. "Last year we won the polka dot jersey. Last year was good, too. People forget we had the yellow jersey one day last year, too. They forget about it. I don't know why," Vaughters said. "But actually, that's an example that those two, three really big teams kind of overshadow everything." STRATEGIC APPROACH EF Education-EasyPost are accountable to a sponsor that views cycling as a measurable marketing tool, not just a passion project. "EF isn't the sponsor that is just here because the owner likes cycling and writes the cheque or whatever," Vaughters said. "EF is here because they view it as more efficient marketing than if they purchased other forms of marketing, okay? So we're actually held to a very high standard when it comes to marketing metrics." That drives the team's strategic approach with EF often avoiding the general classification and sprint battles dominated by big-budget squads, opting instead for opportunistic breakaways and high-impact moments. "What we try to do... is we basically have to come in and think, okay, well, how can we create (a moment)," Vaughters said. "You can't do the same thing every single year. You can't say, 'well, what worked when we were Garmin (more than 10 years ago) will work now'. There are certain cultural things that we keep intact, sort of the lighthearted spirit - the fact that we take the work very seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously." It's a culture EF prides itself on — a contrast to the hyper-serious image of other teams. "We take our work every bit as seriously as Soudal," Vaughters said. "But I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack."
Reuters
16-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
EF team happy to be underdogs in battle of cycling's big beasts
TOULOUSE, France, July 16 (Reuters) - While World Tour giants like UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike flex their financial muscle at the Tour de France, EF Education-EasyPost team boss Jonathan Vaughters is happy to be chasing in a different kind of pack. "I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack," Vaughters told Reuters, in reference to rival team Soudal Quick-Step's famously aggressive branding. "Maybe we're like the dachshund pack," he added, pointing to his rider Ben Healy's "sausage dog" by the team bus before the start of Wednesday's 11th stage. The metaphor is a light-hearted one, but the economic truth is brutal. EF Education-EasyPost have a budget estimated at less than $25 million, which puts them in the bottom third of the 2025 Tour teams, dominated by defending champion Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG (around $65 million). Vaughters said competing against cycling's financial behemoths is a constant battle in a sport that lacks regulatory parity. "Professional cycling is one of the few high-level professional sports left in the world that does not have some sort of financial fairness regulation," he said. "And that makes it exceptionally difficult for the middle or the smaller teams to exist." Still, EF has managed to do more than just exist. Helped by their bright pink jerseys, they've been visible, creative, and successful. The team claimed a stage win and won the King of the Mountains (polka dot) jersey last year. This year, they won a stage through Healy, who snatched the overall leader's yellow jersey after Monday's 10th stage. "Last year we won the polka dot jersey. Last year was good, too. People forget we had the yellow jersey one day last year, too. They forget about it. I don't know why," Vaughters said. "But actually, that's an example that those two, three really big teams kind of overshadow everything." EF Education-EasyPost are accountable to a sponsor that views cycling as a measurable marketing tool, not just a passion project. "EF isn't the sponsor that is just here because the owner likes cycling and writes the cheque or whatever," Vaughters said. "EF is here because they view it as more efficient marketing than if they purchased other forms of marketing, okay? So we're actually held to a very high standard when it comes to marketing metrics." That drives the team's strategic approach with EF often avoiding the general classification and sprint battles dominated by big-budget squads, opting instead for opportunistic breakaways and high-impact moments. "What we try to do... is we basically have to come in and think, okay, well, how can we create (a moment)," Vaughters said. "You can't do the same thing every single year. You can't say, 'well, what worked when we were Garmin (more than 10 years ago) will work now'. There are certain cultural things that we keep intact, sort of the lighthearted spirit - the fact that we take the work very seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously." It's a culture EF prides itself on — a contrast to the hyper-serious image of other teams. "We take our work every bit as seriously as Soudal," Vaughters said. "But I would laugh if we called ourselves the wolf pack."
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Tour de France team boss Jonathan Vaughters blasts UCI over rider safety
A leading Tour de France team manager, Jonathan Vaughters, has launched a scathing attack on cycling's governing body on the eve of the race, accusing the UCI of being 'unable to make good decisions when it comes to safety or the governance of the sport'. Vaughters, who leads EF Education-Easypost and raced in four Tours as a professional, described cycling's governing body as 'managed by politicians and bureaucrats who do not understand the reality of the sport' and added that 'they were put in place by the votes of other politicians who have never had their skin ripped off by the road'. As the debate over safety in World Tour racing grows ever more heated, Vaughters told the Guardian: 'The riders, coaches, doctors and mechanics in the sport have zero democratic vote in who runs the sport. The people who have real, hard-won knowledge are pushed to the outside.' Vaughters' comments come after three of the Tour's biggest names – Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Mathieu van der Poel – expressed their own safety concerns. Pogacar, the defending champion, said on Thursday: 'It's not a very safe sport, in my opinion.' Van der Poel, the former road race world champion, criticised this year's increase in riders from 176 to 184. 'Making the bunch even bigger is a mistake,' he said. 'Less teams, less riders, will make the biggest difference. Most of the time, it's the behaviour of riders themselves, which is normal, because you all fight for the same position and there's not enough space.' Vingegaard, who had to adapt his pre-Tour programme after suffering a lingering concussion injury during Paris-Nice in March, also voiced his concerns over post-crash health protocols earlier this summer. 'I went to the race doctor, but they never once checked me for concussion,' he has said. 'My glasses were broken, I had blood on my face. For me, that was a bit odd that they didn't check me for concussion.' Recent rule changes to gear ratios, targeting reduced speeds, and limits to handlebar width to ensure adequate bike handling, have also proven controversial. Brent Copeland, a member of the SafeR commission advising the UCI on safety, said: 'We agreed on a test to see if reducing gear sizing would make a difference. Some sprinters are running 58-11 gears and we have seen an increase in average speeds of between 8-10% in recent years. 'We are all trying to create a safer environment for cycling. We want parents to encourage kids to ride bikes, not be put off by crashes. On the other hand, the industry is trying to make bikes faster and more aerodynamic. But the narrower the handlebars, the less control you have. 'Are we looking at making it safer or just at criticising each other? There's a lot of work to do, but it's not going to change overnight.'
