EF Education-EasyPost announced the signing of Estonian Madis Mihkels on Thursday. The 21-year-old had a strong start in his two neo-pro seasons with Intermarché-Wanty with numerous top-10 results including at Paris-Roubaix.
“I am super happy with this move,” Mihkels said in a press release. “It is the right next step for me to make as a cyclist. EF Education-EasyPost looks like a team with a great environment and atmosphere between the riders and the staff. I’m really looking forward to next season.”
The team’s CEO Jonathan Vaughters has high hopes for Mihkels, who won the bronze medal in the European Championships elite men’s road race behind experienced sprinters Tim Merlier and Olav Kooij, sneaking in ahead of the sport’s number one fast man, Jasper Philipsen.
“Madis is a strong, promising rider,” Vaughters said. “With our team’s backing, we think we can help him become a real champion. It is going to be fun to see what he can do.”
Mihkels has won a stage of the 2023 Deutschland Tour and finished ninth in the Scheldeprijs and 10th in Paris-Roubaix this year but hasn’t settled on any goal in particular for 2025.
“It’s not that I just have one race in mind,” Mihkels said. “I want to win next year. I just want to get into a winning mode.
“I love hard races. I’m never the fastest guy in pure, pure bunch sprints when everybody there is fresh. That’s why I love harder racing, where I can go for the sprint in the end.”
He lives and trains in Estonia, even through winter, and is expected to join EF Education-EasyPost for camp in Spain. The addition of Mihkels brings the WorldTour team’s roster to 23.
“For me, Estonia is such a good country, except for the winter. It’s a really good place to train, maybe not for a climber, but for a rider like me. We don’t have big climbs, but we do have super good roads with no traffic. It’s all rolling hills and rivers and lakes.”