The three-day race takes place from Friday to Sunday, and our roster includes EF Education-EasyPost’s Luke Lamperti, Michael Leonard, and Neilson Powless, alongside EF Education-Aevolo’s Gavin Hlady, Tomos Pattinson, Josh Golliker, and Magnus Carstensen.

EF Education-Aevolo riders can join the professional ranks during the season in all categories of racing outside of the WorldTour, and with the Tour de la Provence registered as a 2.1 race on the UCI calendar, U23 riders are eligible.

With Luke Lamperti targeting two potential sprint stages and Michael Leonard, our leader in the GC, the race presents a significant opportunity for the four EF Education-Aevolo U23 riders to develop their skills and challenge themselves against higher-level opposition. Fighting on several fronts and taking the race on is part of the EF Pro Cycling’s DNA, and the stages in Provence will provide the perfect terrain on which the EF Education-Aevolo can display their talents, support their leaders and learn from the more experienced WorldTour riders within the team.

“We’re going to have one GC leader, and that’s Michael and one sprint leader, and that’s Luke. The others, including Neilson, will support those guys, and each rider has a different role. Three of the U23 riders will help with the leadouts, and Josh is going to be the one who rides on the front when we need to control the race or when we want him to ride in the wind and keep his teammates in position,” sports director Ken Vanmarcke said ahead of the race.

“The other riders will then do their work in the leadout and in the sections before the sprint,” he added.

The three-stage race is a key moment in the season for the U23 riders. Magnus, Josh, and Gavin are all returning to the team for a second season, while Tomos is new to the team, having joined in the off-season. This will also be Gavin’s second time racing the Tour de Provence after he was part of the roster in 2025. The quartet will be given manageable roles that will still test them, but for Vanmarcke, this is the perfect moment and the best possible race situation in which the U23 riders can learn, make mistakes, and then try to correct them.

“Development and opportunities are really fundamental for our athletes, so this race is a good chance for the EF Education-Aevolo riders to show the WorldTour team where they fit, what their strengths are, and it’s a good chance for us to see what level they’re at. I think that’s really important for them to race with the WorldTour team because they’re going to learn so quickly,” Vanmarcke said.

“They are also going to be racing with radios, which will be new to a lot of them, and that takes time to get used to. Overall, I think that we have a really exciting roster. There’s not a lot of space for early breaks, but there are still chances for us in the race,” he added.