EF Education Easy Post has acquired Richard Kalapas from the Ineos Grenadiers on a three-year contract.

The Ecuadorian GC rider has been one of the hottest riders on the market this off-season, but his move to the US team after three seasons with Ineos was almost a done deal before.

Karapas will lead the British team in the Vuelta a España, which begins Friday in Utrecht. Kalapas, who won the Olympic road race title last year and will compete in the Giro d'Italia in 2019, said he has his sights set on the Tour de France in the future.

"When you conquer one thing, you want more. I am one of those people who want more," Karapas said in a press release issued by EF Education-EasyPost. [There are things I haven't accomplished yet. I want to win another Grand Tour. My goal in life is always to win the Tour de France. I will fight for that. The potential is there. I know what my potential is, what I can do, what I can achieve, and I am fighting for this dream."

"Every day I wake up with this dream that I have to try. When I started riding, I knew about the Grand Tours. I knew I could eventually win the Giro d'Italia, and I did.

With the addition of Karapas, EF Education-Easy Post now has what it arguably hasn't had since the team was founded in 2007: an absolute top-level Grand Tour contender.

In the decade since Ryder Hesjedal won the 2012 Giro d'Italia, the team has recorded podiums in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España with Rigoberto Urán and Hugh Kersee.

"This team is ambitious and has a lot to achieve. I'm the piece that fits in well with the team. I'm motivated and I was looking for a team that had the same goals as me.

"I'm focused and I want to win the Tour de France. The team wants me to reach my goal and that's really valuable to me."

"The team wants to win a Grand Tour as much as I do. This takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and this team has that. I'm motivated to join the team and fight for this dream and the team has faith in me.

Karapas will lead the team's Grand Tour GC core, Kersee is already signed for next year, and Chaves and Uran's contracts are expiring. He will also work with fellow Ecuadorians Jonathan Caicedo and Jefferson Alexander Cepeda at EF, the latter having joined in early August from Dronehopper-Androni Giocattoli. [I know Caicedo especially well. We grew up in the same cycling program, so I've known him for a long time and we've trained together for years," Karapas said.

"Actually, a few months ago, Jonathan and I were talking to him. There was a possibility of me coming to the team, so we met and talked. It had been seven years since we were on the same team. We were both on the Colombian team at the time. And I said to him, what a coincidence in life that we would meet again on the same team. It was supposed to be a joke, but now it's real."

"Honestly, it's really exciting. I've known him for years and to be on the same team with him and also with Alexander. I've watched him grow so much and it's great to share the team with him. For me, I love being with players that I've known for a long time, and being on the same team, I feel really comfortable."