EF Education-Nippo signs Owain Doull
EF Education-Nippo signs Owain Doull
EF Education-Nippo has announced that Owain Doull will join the squad next season.
The 28-year-old Welshman, an Olympic gold medalist on the track with an affinity for the Classics on the road, has spent the past five seasons with the Ineos Grenadiers, first joining the team as a stagiaire in 2016 and racing as a full-time pro with the squad since 2017.
“Owain is a very strong rider for the Classics, has a great little sprint on him, and is a good time trialist,” said EF team manager Jonathan Vaughters in a press release. “More than anything, Owain is a guy who can win one of the smaller semi Classics. He gives us a broader spectrum of options in the Classics. He hasn’t been given the opportunity to race very many Grand Tours in his career and I think that that’s something he’ll be quite successful at once he’s given the chance. He’ll not only be a successful worker but also, a little bit like Magnus Cort, he can get out of the breakaway and win from the break.”
Doull’s road racing palmares includes stages wins at the Herald Sun Tour and the Tour de La Provence, an impressive GC podium at the 2015 Tour of Britain, and strong finishes in a few one-day races, including a runner-up ride at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2019. He has been a part of the Ineos Grenadiers lineup for four of the past five Tours of Flanders and each of the last three editions of Paris-Roubaix, and he is set to race this year’s edition on Sunday.
“The Classics will be a big goal,” Doull said. “Obviously the team has a great pedigree in the guys they’ve got there already but hopefully I can add to that. And then getting stuck into more Grand Tour racing. I’m looking forward to the opportunity there of pushing myself and trying to support guys like Hugh [Carthy] as much as possible. A different style of racing completely, I think that’s the thing I’m most excited for.”
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