Jefferson “Alexander” Cepeda has been riding bikes since he was a child, growing up in the high mountains of Ecuador, where he was clubmates with his now EF Education-EasyPost teammate and good friend Richard Carapaz. He got his start racing as a 13-year-old and just three years later won his first race.

The 27-year-old brings a wealth of climbing talent to the team. In 2024, he soloed to victory at the Tour de l’Ain on the queen stage and also took the overall title. He was the best young rider and fourth overall at the Tour of the Alps in 2021. He went on to win the Ecuadorian road race national championship that season. At Le Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc, Alexander won stage two, which featured a summit finish on the Col du Galibier, as well as the general classification win and the points jersey. In 2022, he placed second overall at the Tour of Sicily and also earned the title of best young rider.

Alexander turned professional in 2017 and joined EF Education-EasyPost in August 2022, marking his WorldTour debut. His dedication to his teammates makes him an essential member of our squad.

James Shaw loves the places that his bike has taken him, the people he has met because of cycling, and the life lessons he’s learned through the sport. But what does he love most about cycling? Racing.

With five grand tours now in his legs, the 29-year-old British climber is gunning for a great 2026. He’ll take every chance he can get to show what he can do on the sport’s biggest stage. James’s journey to the top hasn’t been easy. After his first few years as a pro, he couldn’t find a contract and had to go back to the sport’s second division. He considered quitting to become a train conductor, but with the support of his family and friends, James stuck with it and earned another shot in the big leagues after a number of strong stage race performances. Since joining our team in 2022, he has evolved into a loyal super domestique, who can get over the hardest climbs to help his teammates. Always willing to pull, he hasn’t pushed his own ambitions aside.

James earned his best results so far out of breaks at the 2023 Tour de France, where he finished fifth and seventh on tough mountain stages. When he gets his chance, he goes all in.

He splits his time between Andorra and England’s Peak District. When he is home, James resets by taking his dogs for long walks on the moors and riding with old clubmates. His racing and training schedule is very busy, but whenever he has time, James hitches a trailer to his bike and goes bike packing. He also enjoys riding motorbikes and going off-roading in the old 4x4 that he refurbished.

Harry Sweeny joined our team in 2024 and quickly became a key rider for us in the classics and grand tours. This is the Australian’s sixth season as a pro.

Harry is still discovering his limits as a racer. As a U23, he won Il Piccolo Lombardia and has since ridden the Tour de France twice. As a rookie, he finished third on a stage and rode onto the Champs-Élysées in the break, as jets trailed bleu, blanc, et rouge streaks into the sky overhead. In 2025, he played a huge role for our squad, pulling hard for his buddy Ben Healy to ride Ben into the yellow jersey and almost winning a stage out of the break himself.

Harry believes that his best is yet to come.

He came to cycling late. As a kid growing up in Brisbane, where his family moved when he was a child, he played soccer and rugby and did gymnastics and swam. He took up triathlon as a schoolboy, but focused on cycling when he was a junior and was recovering from a running injury. He started out racing local crits. His athleticism soon shone and he was picked to race the world championships in Richmond, Virginia for the Australian national team.

He moved to Europe to race, first for a small junior team in Belgium, and then for two years with the Australian Institute of Sport squad, which was then based in Italy, before moving back to Belgium for his final year as an U23. Those years opened up new worlds for Harry.

EF Education-EasyPost’s open-minded international character is a big draw for him. On the teams he has raced for in the past, he has often been one of the few foreigners. Our team is made up of riders and staff from dozens of nationalities. Most of them know what it is like to build a life far from home and can help with all of the little difficulties that come with that. Our multicultural make up helps us to expand our outlook and think beyond traditional ways of doing things too.

Harry is a lot more than a bike racer. He is a keen cook and he loves to go camping and hiking near his adopted home in Andorra. In the winter, he loves to ski. And he is a YouTuber.

We know that we can always count on Harry to be where we need him to be when it counts – and to bring a laugh to the bus.

Darren Rafferty is excited for his third season in the WorldTour. In his rookie year, he won the Irish road race title, finished his first grand tour at the Vuelta a España, and discovered a whole new realm of watts. In season two, he raced his first Giro d’Italia and continued to be a dependable teammate. Now, he wants to race for results himself.

Darren is a talented climber. In the under-23 ranks, he won the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc, finished second at the Giro d'Italia Giovani Under 23, and came fifth in the U23 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He doesn’t just fly up mountains. He is also a strong time trialist, with two Irish U23 titles to his name.

Darren’s future knows no bounds. He might become a GC contender or find that he is better suited to the hilly classics. For now, he wants to make the most of every opportunity that comes his way.

That is what he has been doing ever since he was a little kid. Darren started out racing U10 cyclocross races back in Ireland. As he got bigger and faster, cycling became more and more of a priority. In his late teens, Darren decided to go to France to race and pursue his dream of turning pro instead of accepting a place at university, where he had applied to become an accountant. It wasn’t an easy choice, but Darren’s bravery paid off, and now he has the chance to show the whole world what he can do on a bike.

He lives in Andorra, where he and his tight-knit crew of WorldTour buddies train throughout the year. They get ready for the races on long group rides in the mountains, sprinting for town signs and doing their efforts on the climbs. That keeps it fun.

Once the commissaire’s flag drops, Darren is a fierce competitor.