Welcome, Mikkel Honoré

Next year, he is going to light up races in EF Education-EasyPost pink.

The 25-year-old Dane is in San Francisco at the moment, about to start a trip down the California coast to Mexico with his wife, Marilisa. The two were married on Friday. When they return home to Switzerland from their honeymoon, Mikkel will head into the mountains to train for the year ahead. He wants to make the 2023 season his best yet.

“I am just super excited,” Mikkel says. “It is a new start and chapter for me, and I can’t wait to meet all of the management, riders, and staff and get going for next year.”

Mikkel is a very versatile rider. He has the horsepower and skill to shepherd our GC captains through a racing peloton during the hardest grand tour stages. A great climber with a strong finishing kick, who can hold his own on the cobbles, Mikkel has sprinted to stage victories at the Tour of the Basque Country and Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali—two of the hilliest stage races on the calendar. He is consistently at the front of the biggest races and always ready to do his turn for his teammates. Mikkel comes to us from Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, where he spent five successful seasons and contributed to many victories. Quick-Step released him from his contract so he could join our team. Next year, EF Education-EasyPost will count on Mikkel to be there for us at crucial moments in grand tours and attack the finales of the great one-day races. He’ll go for more victories himself.

“Mikkel will be a great asset for the team in hilly classics and the grand tours,” says EF Education-EasyPost CEO Jonathan Vaughters. “He has proven that he’s a top-class support rider and, if you look at his results, he is knocking on the door of a big win himself. This is a guy who has already won a stage at the Tour of the Basque Country, and that is one of the hardest races out there. We’re going to welcome him into the team and let him show us what he can do. He’s a smart, thoughtful guy and is going to fit right in.”

On their first evening in California, Mikkel and Marilisa watched the LA Lakers take on the Golden State Warriors on the NBA’s opening night. Marilisa is a great basketball fan who works for Olimpia Milano. The two will now drive the Pacific coast past Big Sur to LA, before flying to Tulum, Mexico to relax together on the beach. Mikkel will finally have time to catch his breath and think about the year ahead. He is a rare rider who can compete at the front of the Ardennes and Flemish classics, so will have to decide about his focus for next spring with our sports directors. He wants to race hard right through the year–and go for wins.

“I can race in almost every kind of terrain and hopefully bring a good mood and atmosphere to the team,” Mikkel says. “I love to race and attack and am looking forward to getting more opportunities with EF. I am excited to go to races with a plan to take the win. I know I have the level and the capacity to do so. We are going to have a very good team.”

On the bus, Mikkel will bring a lot to our roster too. He is a keen reader, who often turns to the classics for wisdom. Although he moved to Belgium to race bikes when he was just 17 and then went to Italy to race and made the sport his career, he has learned that there is more to a good life than just faster, higher, stronger.

“At a certain point, I felt like I needed a different stimulus in my life,” he says. “It had to be something good for my performance as well. So, I really got interested in reading. Books take you away from everything for a bit, from the bubble of racing and training, and also give you interesting knowledge as a person. Now, when we race somewhere, I really like to read about the place, because it gives you a better understanding of the where and why.”

The most interesting place that Mikkel has been bike racing is Colombia. When he was there for the national Tour, he was taken aback by how friendly the people he met were and how much they loved cycling.

“You went to every small town in the middle of nowhere, and they were all super passionate about cycling,” he says. “Then, Rigo would show up, and it got absolutely crazy.”

Mikkel has also loved the time he has spent in Montréal and Québec for the Canadian World Tour races and wants to go to British Columbia to explore its wild mountains, lakes, and rivers.

“I love travelling and seeing the world,” he says. “Travelling is what life is all about. It gives you a different perspective on the world. Travelling, seeing different cultures–this is what I love to do.”

Racing around the world also makes Mikkel appreciate home. When he returns to Switzerland, and the home he and his wife have made near the shores of Lake Como, he will focus on getting stronger and faster for next season, when he’ll fly the EF Education-EasyPost colours up cycling’s highest cols and in the finales of the classics.

Welcome to the team, Mikkel.