Esteban Chaves joins EF Education-Nippo for 2022 after eight years at Team BikeExchange

The Colombian has seen a lot of success while riding with the Australian squad but wants a new challenge

Esteban Chaves finishing stage 18 of the 2021 Tour de France alongside Ruben Guerreiro and Dylan Teuns
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Esteban Chaves will be leaving the Australian squad Team BikeExchange after eight years to join the American team EF Education-Nippo in 2022 on a one-year contract.

The Colombian has had a turbulent time of late having battled the Epstein-Barr virus between 2018 and 2019 and has since been slowly getting back to top form. He put in a superb display at the Volta a Catalunya to take a stage win, as well as second on another and taking two jerseys (points and mountains).

While at BikeExchange, Chaves won the Italian Monument Il Lombardia in 2016 as well as three Giro d'Italia stages and two Vuelta a España stages. He's also podiumed in both of those races, not to mention winning the Abu Dhabi Tour and the Herald Sun Tour along the way.

>>> 17 of the best pictures from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The 31-year-old is now moving on to join EF Education-Nippo on a one-year deal, beginning at the start of next year.

Chaves said: "I wanted to join the EF Education-Nippo for several reasons. First of all, from the outside, you can see it is like a big family where everyone is driven by the passion of cycling. Also, one of the directors is a rider I really admired when I started riding my bike - Juanma Garate - and finally, I would love to have Colombian team-mates. But most importantly, the cycling kit is really cool, don’t you think?"

The Colombian looks set to be the replacement for Sergio Higuita who will be joining Bora-Hansgrohe from 2022. Chaves will be joining fellow countryman Rigoberto Urán among others.

"I love the feeling of freedom when riding your bike and the pride of getting to the top of the mountain or finishing a race," Chaves continued. "Also, I love that it is a sport that you can practice with friends and family. Most of all, I really like the power of cycling as a tool to show that dreams come true if you work hard. 

"I’m excited about everything! New bike, new kit, new team-mates, new helmet, new races, new challenges. I feel like a neo-pro again,"

Esteban Chaves is one of many riders on the move, keep up with all the transfers in the men's and women's WorldTour with our transfer page.

Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.