EF Schooling-EasyPost introduced the signing of the twenty seventh confirmed rider for the 2025 season with neo-pro Alastair MacKellar becoming a member of the workforce after a profitable yr with Hagens Berman Jayco.
MacKellar, 22, received a stage of the Alpes Isère Tour this season and got here near a stage win within the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc in a mountaintop end.
The 2023 under-23 Australian highway and time trial champion has been chasing his dream of racing in Europe since leaving the junior ranks. He competed in a handful of late-season races as a trainee with Jayco-AlUla however signed with EF Schooling-Easypost as an alternative.
“This has been a dream of mine since I began driving as a junior,” MacKellar stated within the workforce’s press launch. “I did all 4 years of my time as an under-23 in Europe, making an attempt to work in the direction of this, so to lastly make it in my final yr isn’t solely a giant aid, it is an honour. I am tremendous joyful to have the chance and belief from the workforce.”
Residing out his dream within the WorldTour will include expectations and strain, however the rider from Queensland is focussed on the fundamentals.
“I actually need to go in with a bit of little bit of weight off my shoulders and simply practice laborious and be bodily in the very best form I can and let it come because it comes. There are going to be plenty of actually vital, particular alternatives for me subsequent yr. Once they come up, I simply need to be in the absolute best form I will be after which do the very best I can.”
EF Schooling-EasyPost have seen 5 riders go away the workforce, with Alberto Bettiol, Stefan Bissegger, Simon Carr and Jonas Rutsch leaving for different WorldTour outfits and Rigoberto Urán retiring.
With seven newcomers – Kasper Asgreen, Alex Baudin, Madis Mihkels, Vincenzo Albanese, Samuele Battistella coming throughout and neo-pros MacKellar and Max Walker becoming a member of the workforce – there are solely three attainable openings for the 4 riders at the moment out of contract, Alexander Cepeda, Esteban Chaves, James Shaw and Stefan de Bod.
The workforce’s CEO Jonathan Vaughters sees MacKellar as a rider for the Ardennes Classics and hilly stage races.
“Alastair has a robust motor,” Vaughters stated. “Within the under-23 ranks, he has proven that he could make a break stick after a tough, hilly day of racing and he has been doing plenty of work on his time trialing… We’re actually trying ahead to working with him as he makes the step as much as the WorldTour.”
