Madis Mihkels' home team, EF Education-EasyPost, is venturing into the world of cyclo-cross for the first time, establishing a program with three riders, including former junior world champion in the discipline, Mattia Agostinacchio.
The 18-year-old Italian will join EF's WorldTour team next January, but he will already represent the team's colors in the current cyclo-cross season. His older brother, Filippo, a two-time U23 Italian champion and stage winner of Giro NextGen, is also part of the lineup.
The third athlete in the initial program is Nina Berton, the former U23 Luxembourg cyclo-cross champion – a rider in her third year as a professional who has been part of EF Education-Oatly ProTeam since the beginning of this year.
"This is an exciting experimental project for us, but we also want to achieve genuinely good results with it," said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of EF Pro Cycling. "Ever since Lachlan Morton's idea for an alternative calendar, we've always taken slightly different, experimental steps. This is a continuation of that, as we believe cycling should be as inclusive as possible. We've always wanted to bring as many people as possible closer to the sport, and creating a cyclo-cross team allows us to reach a completely new audience. We're starting with junior world champion Mattia, his brother Filippo, and Nina – that seems like a great starting point."
Mattia Agostinacchio, who recently competed at the World Championships in Rwanda, plans to participate in a full cyclo-cross race program before the World Championships in Hulst in February 2025.
"As a world champion, cyclo-cross is extremely important to me, so I want to give it my best," said Agostinacchio. "I also believe that starting with the cyclo-cross season will help me adapt and develop over the winter before I focus on the 2026 road season. We see from many riders how cyclo-cross also helps in road racing – this discipline teaches a lot," said Berton. "It's also simply a great addition to the winter program. In Luxembourg, almost every young rider does some cyclo-cross at some point – it's part of development. I've never done a full season, but cyclo-cross has always been an important part of my preparation outside the road racing season."
Combining cyclo-cross and road racing has been a common practice for years in teams like Visma–Lease a Bike, Alpecin–Deceuninck, and Fenix–Alpecin, as well as many Belgian teams. However, for EF, this is a first-time step.
