EF Education-Easy Post team has made a major upgrade to its roster for 2023, and team boss Jonathan Vaughters admitted that expectations are higher for the upcoming season.

Olympic champion and former Giro d'Italia winner Richard Carapas has signed for 2023, making him the biggest star rider in the team's 20-year history. The signing of the Ecuadorian rider brings high standards as well as ambition.

"Everyone understands that expectations will be high," Vaughters said in a team press release. 'Because what we are striving for, the goal, is higher.'

"We are taking on the best teams in the world to win the biggest race in the world. You can feel it in everyone. There is a big change in spirit. The competition is just beginning."

The team won nine races in the 2022 season, including a stage win by Magnus Cort at the Tour de France in Megève and Rigoberto Uran's first Grand Tour stage win in five years at the Vuelta a España.

In the winter, he signed former Ineos Grenadiers teammate Andrei Amador of Calapaz, Mikel Honoré of Quick Step, and Stéphane de Bod of Astana Cazaxtan. Also joining the team mid-season are Andrea Piccolo and Jefferson Cepeda (both from Androni), who are in their first full season with the team.

EF was one of the teams working to acquire Mark Cavendish last summer, and Vaughters had also expressed tentative interest in Mark Cavendish. However, the veteran is almost certain to race at Astana this year.

"Each brings strengths that will add explosiveness and depth to our roster," the team said of its new players, noting that Amador will focus on helping Carapas and Honoré will lead the team in the Spring Classic after Sebastian Langefeldt's retirement.

The team's 2023 squad will consist of 30 players from 21 countries, with notable names such as Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar), who will move to EF's Development Team over the winter to recover from injuries sustained in a crash last June, and Michal Valgren, who will join the The list included.

As in the past, the team was the last of the World Tour teams to unveil their new jerseys, but Amador may have leaked the new look in an Instagram post earlier this week.

Amador, a Costa Rican, showed a shot of himself wearing an EF-colored jersey with several different pinks on the body and sleeves and black trim. However, it is possible that this is a training kit.