Richard Carapaz will leave EF Education-EasyPost at the end of the 2026 season to join NSN Cycling Team on a three-year contract running through the end of 2029.
The 33-year-old Ecuadorian gives NSN an established Grand Tour leader with a Giro d’Italia victory, an Olympic road race title and podium finishes in all three Grand Tours already on his record. His arrival follows an early exit from EF, where he had spent four seasons and produced one of the strongest campaigns of his career in 2026.
Carapaz won two stages of the Tour de France this summer, including the queen stage to Alpe d’Huez, and secured the polka-dot mountains jersey. A week later he finished second at the Clásica San Sebastián after going clear with Remco Evenepoel on the Murgil climb. Those results give NSN a rider who remains capable of winning major mountain races rather than simply bringing experience to the roster.
Carapaz signs through the end of 2029
NSN have given Carapaz a three-year deal covering the 2027, 2028 and 2029 seasons. The move ends his time with EF Education-EasyPost, the team he joined for 2023 after previous spells with Movistar and INEOS Grenadiers.
Carapaz said the prospect of joining NSN reminded him of the excitement he felt when signing his first professional contract, and described the chance to become one of the team’s leaders as a major part of the appeal.
General manager Kjell Carlström highlighted the combination of results and leadership that Carapaz brings, pointing specifically to his 2026 Tour de France and the role he can play in helping younger riders develop.
The signing also changes the hierarchy within NSN. The team had already added Santiago Buitrago and Lennert Van Eetvelt for 2027, giving it multiple high-level climbing options, but Carapaz arrives with the strongest Grand Tour record of the group.
Two Tour wins underline his 2026 form
Carapaz’s 2026 Tour de France became the clearest evidence that he still belongs among the strongest attacking climbers in the peloton. He won stage 18 at Orcières-Merlette after attacking from the breakaway on the final climb, then doubled up two days later on the race’s decisive mountain stage to Alpe d’Huez.
On stage 20, Carapaz was again part of the breakaway before emerging as one of the strongest riders over the Col du Galibier and Col de Sarenne. He passed Sepp Kuss after the American crashed on the descent and then rode clear to win on Alpe d’Huez, 26 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel.
That victory also secured the Tour’s mountains classification. ProCyclingUK covered Carapaz’s Alpe d’Huez win and later looked back at his two stage victories and polka-dot jersey.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Thomas MaheuxCarapaz carried that form into the following weekend at the Clásica San Sebastián. He followed Evenepoel on the Murgil climb and reached the finish with the Belgian after the pair had distanced the rest of the field. Evenepoel won the sprint, with Carapaz second and Ben Tulett third at 29 seconds.
A Grand Tour winner with range beyond general classification
Carapaz’s 2019 Giro d’Italia victory remains the biggest result of his career. He became the first Ecuadorian to win a Grand Tour, beating Vincenzo Nibali and Primož Roglič after taking the maglia rosa on stage 14 and defending it through the final week.
He has since finished on the podium of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, while also winning Olympic road race gold in Tokyo. Across his career he has collected stage wins in all three Grand Tours and repeatedly shown that he can win both from general classification positions and from aggressive breakaways.
That versatility has become more important as he has moved into his thirties. Carapaz is no longer dependent on arriving at a Grand Tour as an outright favourite for the overall. His ability to switch between GC racing, stage hunting and mountains classifications gives NSN more options over three weeks.
His 2026 Tour showed that particularly clearly. Instead of fading after losing time in the first half of the race, he changed objectives and became one of the most aggressive riders of the final week, eventually leaving France with two stage wins and the climbers’ jersey.
NSN build a deeper Grand Tour group
Carapaz joins an NSN roster that has been rebuilt aggressively for 2027. ProCyclingUK has already reported Santiago Buitrago’s three-year move and Lennert Van Eetvelt’s deal through 2029.
Kasper Asgreen is also joining, with the Dane signing for 2027 and 2028, while Artem Shmidt and Cedric Beullens add further depth across stage races and one-day events.
The key question will be how NSN divide leadership between Carapaz, Buitrago and Van Eetvelt. All three can target mountain stages and high general-classification finishes, but Carapaz is the only one with a Grand Tour victory and Olympic title already behind him.
That gives NSN a clear reference point for its biggest stage-race programme. Carapaz arrives with the results to lead outright when the route suits him, while his recent Tour showed he can still deliver even when a GC campaign changes direction.
