EF Training-EasyPost introduced the signing of 23-year-old French rider Alex Baudin, who raced for the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale for the previous two seasons.
Baudin, who started his professional profession with the Tudor Professional Biking group in 2022, ran afoul of the UCI when he examined optimistic for the painkiller Tramadol after stage 17 of the 2023 Giro d’Italia.
The UCI belatedly disqualified Baudin in July of final yr and struck Baudin’s principally minor outcomes, though his tenth place on stage 12 shifted extra of the factors for the stage end for six riders.
Baudin’s AG2R group reinstated him after “an in-deth examination by the group’s ethics committee” since he had not raced since being disqualified.
On the time, the optimistic was not thought-about an anti-doping rule violation, though WADA has since positioned the drug on the listing of prohibited substances in competitors.
Since then, Baudin had a breakthrough season in 2024 and gathered probably the most factors of any rider with no confirmed contract on the shut of the season, raking in 963 factors.
He completed the season putting third general within the Tour of Guangxi, gained the general and a stage within the Tour du Limousin, and was second within the Coppa Bernocchi and GP la Marseillaise.
“It’s actually thrilling to affix such a world group,” Baudin mentioned within the EF Training-EasyPost press launch.Â
“That is one thing I’ve at all times wished to do and I believe that is the proper time to do it. It’s actually essential to get out of your consolation zone and get to know new folks, new cultures, new all the things. That’s what I like in life. That is why I wished to affix EF Training-EasyPost. I am nonetheless younger, and I am actually, actually excited.”
There are nonetheless 63 WorldTour riders who haven’t confirmed a group for 2025, with Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) the highest scorer with 715 factors in 2024. Madis Mihkels (Intermarché-Wanty) is subsequent with 711 factors.
