Earlier this week, Rui Costa’s agent announced that the Portuguese cyclist would no longer be racing for Intermarché-Circus-Wanty in 2024 and that Rui would be signing a contract with another team. According to the Danish website Ekstra Bladet, that team is the American EF Education-EasyPost. The journal reports that Costa has already signed a contract with Jonathan Vaughters’ team.
At 37 years old, Rui Costa has proven that he can continue to compete and win races at the WorldTour level. In 2023, he secured four victories. At the beginning of the season, he won the Trofeo Calvia, the Tour of Valencia, and a stage of that race. In September, he won the fifteenth stage of the Vuelta a España. The 2013 world champion also finished fourth in the Strade Bianche and eighth in the Clásica San Sebastián.
In a conversation with the Portuguese channel O Jogo, João Correia, Costa’s agent, said that his athlete would have liked to stay with Intermarché-Circus-Wanty. However, the Belgian team did not have a sufficient budget to keep the Portuguese rider. “We hoped for as much as possible. Rui loved the team, and the team loved Rui,” said João Correia. “But we had to make a decision.”