Eduardo Sepúlveda (born 13 June 1991) is an Argentine racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He rode at the 2014 UCI Road World Championships.
Early life
Sepúlveda was born in Rawson, the capital of Chubut, in the Patagonia of Argentina. He started to ride a bike under the advice of his father, Eduardo. In 2007, aged 16 years old, Sepúlveda won the Copa Nacional Infanto Juvenil for young riders in Argentina. However, his father was killed in a car accident while returning home after the event. Sepúlveda recovered from this and later was selected as one of the best young riders of the country and invited to the CeNARD in Buenos Aires, some away from his home in Rawson.
After a series of good results, in 2012, Sepúlveda was invited for the Union Cycliste Internationale to the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland, among many other riders from developing countries, including Natnael Berhane, Youcef Reguigui and Josip Rumac. Also in 2012, he won the silver medal in the individual time trial at the Pan American Road Championships in Mar del Plata, losing out to Magno Nazaret from Brazil.
Professional career
In 2013, Sepúlveda began his career with the French team and signed an initial two-year contract. In a 2014 interview, Sepúlveda said thanks to the Tour de San Luis for allowing him a chance to train at the World Cycling Centre and to sign with the French second division team .
Sepúlveda took his first professional win in February 2015 with a solo victory in the Classic Sud-Ardèche. Later that year, he took a fine second place in the overall classification of the Tour of Turkey, 32 seconds down on Kristijan Đurasek (). He participated in the 2015 Tour de France, but was disqualified on stage 14 for riding in a car instead of pedaling his bike.
For the 2018 season, Sepúlveda joined one of the UCI WorldTeams, from Spain, and signed a two-year contract, a move predicted for many insiders in the UCI World Tour. In May 2018, he was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia for the first time in his career.
He was expected to ride the 2019 Vuelta a España but was not selected, and, after this omission, 2019 was the first year in his professional career that Sepúlveda did not ride one Grand Tour. For the 2020 season, Sepúlveda re-signed for one year with the Spanish-based team before moving to for the 2021 season.
In November 2022, Sepúlveda signed with for the 2023 season.
Major results
2010
3rd Individual pursuit, Pan American Track Championships
2011
3rd Team pursuit, Pan American Track Championships
7th Overall Rutas de América
2012
Pan American Road Championships
1st Under-23 time trial
2nd Time trial
2nd ZLM Tour
5th Overall Coupe des nations Ville Saguenay
8th Chrono Champenois
2013
Pan American Track Championships
1st Individual pursuit
1st Team pursuit
2nd Madison
6th Overall Kreiz Breizh Elites
9th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
10th Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
10th Circuito de Getxo
2014
4th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
1st Young rider classification
5th Overall Critérium International
6th Overall Tour de San Luis
2015 (2 pro wins) 1st Classic Sud-Ardèche 1st Tour du Doubs 2nd Overall Tour of Turkey 4th Overall Tour de San Luis 5th Overall Route du Sud 2016 (1) 2nd Overall Tour de San Luis 1st Mountains classification 1st Stage 4 4th Tour du Doubs 2017 4th Classic Sud-Ardèche 2019 2nd Overall Tour of Austria 2021 3rd Overall Tour of Turkey 4th Overall Tour of Romania 8th Overall Adriatica Ionica Race 10th Giro dell'Appennino 2022 (1) 3rd Overall Tour of Turkey 1st Stage 4 7th Overall Tour de Langkawi 8th Overall Tour of Antalya 2023 (2) 1st Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León 1st Stage 2 2nd Road race, Pan American Games 7th Overall Sibiu Cycling Tour Vuelta a España Held after Stages 4–10