Rigoberto Urán says he has extended his contract with EF Pro Cycling to 2022
The Colombian climber has been EF's best hope at the Tour de France for the past few years
Rigoberto Urán announced that he will extend his contract with EF Pro Cycling after another solid performance in the Tour de France.
The Colombian climber has only been on the start list for six races in this strange season that has been marred by the global pandemic, but still managed to get a solid top eight at the French Grand Tour, taking two ninth place stage finishes along the way.
Speaking during a virtual event hosted Tour Colsubsidio, Urán told guests he would be extending his contract with his current team. EF Pro Cycling are yet to officially announce the news.
Urán has been with EF in it's various forms since 2016, when he joined from Etixx - Quick-Step.
He has since managed various top-10s and podiums in Grand Tours and Classics including a second place overall at the 2017 Tour de France, just 59 seconds behind the winner, Chris Froome (Ineos Grenadiers).
>>> Tour de Yorkshire 2021 has been postponed
Urán says that he was relieved that he was able to perform so well at the Tour after recovering from an awful crash at the Vuelta a España in 2019 where he broke his left collarbone, shoulder blade, some ribs and a couple of vertebrae along with some damage to his lung.
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He has been a key rider in guiding young climbers Dani Martínez, who took the overall title at this year's Critérium du Dauphiné, Hugh Carthy, who came third in the 2020 Vuelta a España, and Sergio Higuita, Colombian national road race champion and Vuelta stage winner.
Urán, 33, has indicated that he would like to aim for the Vuelta a España in the 2021 season, the only Grand Tour he is yet to get a podium in.
Another rider who has announced that he will be extending with the American team is Tejay Van Garderen, who has extended his contract for another year as he settles into a support role after not getting that big win as leader.
Van Garderen posted about his extension on Instagram saying "thrilled to announce I will be riding with EF Pro Cycling for the 2021 season.
"Going on season 12, and we got a lot of exciting things to look forward to."
The best placing the American had all season was a 21st place in the individual time trail at Paris-Nice.
The vast majority of Van Garderen's wins have come in his home country, with overall wins at the Amgen Tour of California in 2013 and the USA Pro Challenge in 2013 and 2014.
He is likely to play a similar role to Urán in supporting some of the younger riders, which has already been shown with him riding through the ITT at the Vuelta with Carthy, who went on to put in a great ride on the day.
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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.
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