The 22-year-old from Tenjo, Colombia, brings grit and climbing talent to our development squad.

This spring, in his first foray into European racing, Juan Felipe won the queen stage of the Ronde de l'Isard, dropping some of the fastest under-23 racers on the planet on the ascent to the Pla de Soulcem in the Pyrenees. He finished the prestigious French stage race third overall. Racing against WorldTour competition the next month, he placed 16th at the summit finish of the Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica. Juan Felipe is a consistent performer in the toughest South American races and is excited to hone his skills with EF Education-Aevolo, as he works toward his dream of racing in the WorldTour.

“Joining EF Education-Aevolo makes me really happy,” Juan Felipe said. “It is already a dream come true. This past year, I was able to race with the best team in Colombia, but it’s already such a big change and big step to go into a professional organization like EF Pro Cycling. You see that with fueling and nutrition, all the forms we have to fill out. The team cares for you and you see that. The team told me that the first year I should go easy with things, develop my cycling and my English. My goal is to adapt myself as well as possible to the structure and to have a good racing season. Obviously, I would love to win some races, but I am not thinking about this right now. I want to concentrate on developing as well as possible.”

Racing a full season in Europe will be an exciting challenge for Juan Felipe. Smaller roads and faster speeds will push his body and mind to the limit. He plans to move to Girona to train in the mountains of Catalunya and will travel from there to races with the squad. Juan Felipe is looking forward to the adventure. He has wanted to become a professional cyclist ever since he first saw the Tour de France on TV when he was 16.

“The cycling broadcasts start around 8:30 a.m. in Colombia,” Juan Felipe said. “It was a Sunday, a mountain stage, and when they attacked, with all those beautiful views, I was stuck to the TV. From that moment, I wanted to watch cycling again and again.”

He already rode his bike to school and around his hometown, but after seeing that stage of the Tour, Juan Felipe started venturing out into the hills around Tenjo, near Bogotá, dreaming of attacking grand tour stages. It was a great place to learn how to become a cyclist.

“⁠There is so much terrain where I grew up, steep climbs, but also flat roads, at many different altitudes,” he said. “It’s a privilege to train there. It’s amazing. You can do climbs up to 3,000 meters, but also ride easy at 700 meters. This helped me a lot.”

Juan Felipe’s talent and hard work soon started to shine. With strong results in Colombia, he earned a spot on his country’s top team and then won the Vuelta de la Juventud, the U23 Tour of Colombia. That caught our scouts’ attention. When Juan Felipe backed it up with his results at the Ronde de l'Isard, EF Education-Aevolo Head Sports Director Mike Creed knew he wanted Colombia’s snappiest young climber on the team.

"Juan Felipe is a really good climber," Creed said. "He won a stage of the Ronde de l’Isard last year, but he is still pretty green. Next year, we are going to take care of him and get him stuck into some harder races to give him some experience. He has lots of talent and lots of horsepower. Hopefully, he’ll have the chance to step up and race with the WorldTour team."

Juan Felipe spoke to his friend and new Colombian teammate Miguel Ángel Marín about the squad and knew right away that EF Education-Aevolo is where he wanted to sign. He is aware that the coming season is going to be a challenge. With his strength, Juan Felipe can ride away on long mountain climbs, but navigating a surging peloton to make sure he is at the front of the race for all of the key moments on technical terrain requires nerves and skill that he wants to practice.

“In Colombia, we race on big national roads,” Juan Felipe said. “In Europe there are smaller, narrow roads and the peloton takes the downhills a lot faster. In general, the whole race is faster in Europe. In Colombia, you go fast, but just at certain moments, whereas in Europe, when you arrive to the climb, you are very exhausted already. Racing all day at high speed makes you really tired.”

Juan Felipe’s goal this year is to focus on getting even stronger and developing his racing tact, so he can soar away in the finales of the hardest races and prove that he is ready for the WorldTour. At EF Education-Aevolo, he has a team around him to help him reach his full potential.

Welcome to the squad, Juan Felipe Rodriguez!