Cannondale has extended its partnership with the EF Education-Nippo team through the 2023 season, continuing its relationship with the American squad that began in 2015 when the Slipstream organisation merged with the former Liquigas turned Cannondale team as Cannondale-Garmin.
Now sponsored by Education First and Nippo, CEO Jonathan Vaughters' WorldTeam tackles both a full WorldTour calendar and 'alternative' events such as ultra-endurance races and gravel grinders.
The mix of events allows Cannondale to bring its brand to multiple disciplines, introduces new audiences to professional cycling and high-performance equipment, and the team in turn help Cannondale refine the details of their bikes.
"Our ambitions to build a larger community in cycling are in line with the spirit of EF Pro Cycling," said Jonathan Geran, director of sports marketing for Cannondale. "We're all working toward the same common goals – be the world's favorite team, race with character and heart, and shift perceptions of what people think about bicycles, professional cycling, and its riders."
EF Pro Cycling ended the 2020 season as the 10th-ranked team in the UCI World Rankings, buoyed by Grand Tour stage wins by Dani Martínez, Jonathan Caicedo, Ruben Guerreiro, Michael Woods, Hugh Carthy and Magnus Cort. Carthy landed on the podium in the Vuelta a España, while Martínez also won the Critérium du Dauphiné.
During the coronavirus lockdown, Lachlan Morton set the fastest known time on the Kokopelli trail in Utah and Colorado on his Cannondale Scalpel, following on other long-distance adventures in previous years that included the fastest time for the GBDuro and finishing the Colorado Trail - 850km - in less than four days.
"At the core, the relationship with Cannondale is about evolution and revolution. We want to make progress on the roads, off the roads, and ultimately keep pushing the boundaries of our sport outward," Vaughters said. "We want to work with Cannondale to highlight the beauty of the elite level but also make the sport more accessible everywhere. We want more people riding bikes with smiles on their faces."
