Gallery: the Giro's second act

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 Richard Carapaz. He got his start racing as a 13-year-old and just three years later won his first race.

The 25-year-old brings a wealth of climbing talent and recent results to the team. 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.

Ben Healy is one of the best young bike racers of his generation. Born and raised near Birmingham, the 23-year-old is proud of his Irish roots and honored to wear the Bratach na hÉireann colors as the Irish road race national champion.

The 2023 season was Ben’s breakout year. After winning the GP Industria & Artigianato and a stage at Coppi e Bartali, he finished second at Brabantse Pijl and second at the Amstel Gold Race. And then he went and won a stage at the Giro d'Italia with a 50-km solo.

Results like that are a testament to his tenacity.

Ben blazed his own way to the pro ranks. He was riding at his local track by the time he was five years old. Growing up, he was there every Sunday morning to train and race. But his first love was mountain biking. That meant hucking himself off the established track for a young bike racer in Britain. Ben dropped out of the academy and decided to go it alone.

Racing mountain bikes and road bikes on smaller teams, he soon had stage wins at the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia and the Ronde de l’Isard to his name, as well as Irish road and time trial championship titles. In 2019, Ben became the youngest ever winner of a stage at the Tour de l’Avenir.

And now, he has shown that he can go toe-to-toe with the best bike racers in the world in the sport’s greatest races.

Ben loves getting in breakaways and surprising his rivals with his daring attacks. He is as aero as anyone in the peloton and is always looking for the latest edge.

Last to go will be his flowing black locks. Away from the races, Ben likes big cities and hanging out with his friends from art school.

He is an explosive climber, who wants to find out what he can do over the course of a grand tour. So does the rest of the world. The only thing that’s for certain is that Ben Healy is going to keep racing his own way.

Hugh has always been a strong and consistent climber, but it was his performance in the 2019 Tour de Suisse that stamped his presence after he rode solo for 98 kilometers over three leg-breaking mountains and claimed the stage win. Since then, he won his first Grand Tour stage at the Vuelta a España, on Alto de l’Angliru no less, and finished third on the overall podium. In 2022, he came second overall at the Tour de Langkawi and ninth on GC at the Giro.

He got his start on the bike as a seven-year-old when he used to ride with his dad. Five years later, Hugh stormed up Mont Ventoux with his dad driving the family car behind him in support. Today Hugh’s favorite climb is Birdy Brow, a short but steep climb in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. Because he is able to dig so deep on the climbs, it’s only natural that he loves a good recovery ride. Sometimes, he trades his bike for his motorbike and goes off exploring.

Hugh speaks fluent Spanish after living in Spain and now resides in Andorra. Despite so many years abroad, he’s still British through and through. He enjoys watching snooker and The Office (the British version, of course) and after his morning coffee, he drinks milky tea all day long.

South African powerhouse Stefan de Bod bolsters our roster. The Olympian and former African time-trial champion is going into his sixth season in the WorldTour. He is a valuable asset in hilly classics and time trials. Great friends with his teammates, Stefan is always good for a laugh in the bus.

Stefan lives in Girona, our Catalan home base, during the racing season. He loves all the places that bike racing takes him, but whenever he has the chance travels back to South Africa, where he can disappear for a bit into the bush on his mountain bike and return home to his family farm for a braai.