EF Pro Cycling has announced the signing of 24-year-old Will Barta, who made headlines after winning the individual time trial to the Mirador de Ezaro on stage 13 of this year's Vuelta a España, despite coming within one second of Primosz Roglic.

Barta has spent the past two seasons with the soon-to-be-defunct CCC team after a stint with the Axel Merckx-led Hagens Berman Axeon and the US National Team.

"Nielson and Logan grew up racing together on the US National Team, so we've known each other for a long time. I also met Ruben Guerrero at Hagens Berman Axeon, where Axel Merckx was a member. It will be really fun to reunite with them as teammates," Barta said in a team press release.

"EF seems like a group that is passionate about sports and performance, so I'm looking forward to being a part of that."

Barta began racing at an early age and joined the Boise, Idaho club at age 11. He was noted as a time triallist, finishing second behind Brandon McNulty (Rally Cycling) at the 2017 U23 National Championships and fourth in the elite. He also placed fourth in the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège that same year, showing promise for the Ardennes Classics.

"I still feel like I haven't found where my talent lies, but I am excited to continue to grow in different roles at EF," Barta said.

His career took a setback in 2018 when he fractured the greater trochanter of his femur in a crash during the U23 Giro d'Italia. Surgery to repair the fracture required cutting his gluteus maximus muscle, and he faced eight months of rehabilitation before regaining full strength.

Nevertheless, CCC team boss Jim Ochowicz signed him to his first World Tour contract in 2019. In his first year, he finished in the top 10 in the Tour de Romandie time trial and competed in his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España; he also finished in the top 10 in August's Tour Poitou-Charentes and Nouvelle Aquitaine time trial and made his breakthrough at the Vuelta. He was on the verge of his first Grand Tour stage win, and fought hard for over an hour, only to be thwarted in the end by Roglic.

After the stage, Barta said: "If you had asked me yesterday if I was happy with second place, I would have been elated. But when you are one second behind in the end, obviously I am a little disappointed."

"Overall, though, I am happy with my effort and I don't think I could have really done anything else."

Barta said that he was "very happy with the way I rode,"

and that he was "very happy with the way I rode.

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