--- title: "Jonathan Vaughters: rider, team founder, CEO - Linus Murphy" description: Vaughters won on Mont Ventoux, admitted doping, then built Slipstream Sports from $50,000 into a WorldTour team EF bought in 2017. What a board can learn. url: https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/jonathan-vaughters/ language: en-GB type: article author: Linus Murphy author_url: https://linusmurphy.com/about/ published: 2024-11-07 modified: 2026-11-06 --- [Peloton to boardroom](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/) # Jonathan Vaughters: from the peloton to the company that runs the team By [Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/about/) • 11 min read United States · Slipstream Sports (founder and CEO); teams' association AIGCP (president 2009–2013) · Professional cycling management ![Jonathan Vaughters in a Slipstream Chipotle jacket](https://linusmurphy.com/images/peloton/jonathan-vaughters.webp) ## Achievements - [Former professional, including the Tour de France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Vaughters) - [Founded Slipstream Sports, now EF Education–EasyPost, and remains team manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF_Education%E2%80%93EasyPost) Jonathan Vaughters is the rider who admitted doping and then built a company whose first promise was that its riders would not. He won on Mont Ventoux in 1999, retired in 2002, and turned $50,000 into Slipstream Sports, a WorldTour organisation that EF Education First bought in 2017 with him still as chief executive. The doping is on the record, near the front. What a chief executive or board member can use is the rest: a company whose first promise was inspectable. ## What kind of rider was Jonathan Vaughters? He was a climber and time triallist who reached the top tier of European racing without becoming a Tour contender. His best day was winning the Mont Ventoux time trial at the 1999 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, riding for US Postal. [Cyclingnews reported on 9 June 1999](http://web.archive.org/web/20030309121119/http://www.cyclingnews.com:80/results/1999/jun99/dauphine993.html) that he won the 21.6 km stage from Bédoin to the summit in 56 minutes 50.9 seconds, ahead of Alexandre Vinokourov and Wladimir Belli, and took the race lead. The same report noted that Charly Gaul’s winning time on that course at the 1958 Tour, 1 hour 2 minutes 9 seconds, would have placed 28th that day. It also recorded that Vaughters had been a professional since September 1994. His own account of the route there is unglamorous. In [a letter published by VeloNews on 23 July 2002](https://velo.outsideonline.com/news/vaughters-views-a-letter-to-rob/), he described buying a one-way ticket to Madrid to race for a small Spanish team, getting ill repeatedly, and being, in his words, “unquestionably the worst rider in the whole of the European pro peloton” in that first period. He worked his way up to US Postal. He finished the 1998 Vuelta a España “second to last, some two or three hours down”, because his director told him that finishing a three-week race would make him stronger elsewhere. In 1999 he won the Dauphiné time trial and the overall Route du Sud. In 2000 he moved to Crédit Agricole and, by his account, was in the top ten of Paris–Nice, the Dauphiné and the Tour Méditerranéen. He called that season “as good as I ever got”. He also described crashing out of that year’s Tour. The same letter explains how he stopped. He had asked Crédit Agricole to release him for 2003, saying he had “lost my fire to be a pro in Europe” and had reached the limit of his ability. [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/sportsperson/2007/11/27/murphy-vaughters), writing in November 2007, called him a one-time teammate of Lance Armstrong who had retired five years earlier. That is the racing file. It is a serious career in a dirty era, not a Tour winner’s palmarès, and I have not padded it. ## What did he admit about doping, and when? He admitted in August 2012 that he had doped as a rider. He did so in his own words, in a newspaper opinion piece, while he was running a team built on the opposite promise. The piece ran in [The New York Times on 12 August 2012](http://web.archive.org/web/20120815163316/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-doping-out-of-sports.html). He wrote: “I chose to lie over killing my dream. I chose to dope. I am sorry for that decision, and I deeply regret it.” He went on to say that the guilt led him to retire and start a team “where that choice was taken out of the equation through rigorous testing”. [Cyclingnews covered it the same day](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaughters-admits-to-doping-during-career/), noting that he had ridden for US Postal while the investigation into doping on Armstrong’s teams was still running. The op-ed gave no details of substances or dates. That is the doping record. It does not wash what came next, and what came next does not erase it. ## How did a $50,000 development squad become a WorldTour company? He started small, with his own money, and found a financial partner before he tried to grow. The company, Slipstream Sports, went from a development squad of young American riders to a team racing the Tour de France. [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/sportsperson/2007/11/27/murphy-vaughters) reported in 2007 that he founded the squad in 2003 “with $50,000 of his own money”, and that by 2007 Team Slipstream-Chipotle was “directed by Vaughters and bankrolled by financier Doug Ellis”. A [VeloNews profile in 2014](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-culture/at-home-with-jonathan-vaughters-part-1/) also dates the start to 2003. A [2018 VeloNews report](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/we-bought-a-cycling-team-inside-ef-education-firsts-pro-cycling-experiment/) describes Ellis as the team’s financial backstop “since its inception in 2004”. I note the one-year difference rather than pick a founding myth. The cheque size and the backer are consistent; the year is not. The same 2018 report sets out how fragile the early years were. The original title sponsor, TIAA-CREF, did not renew for a fourth year, and the team ran without a title deal from 2007 until mid-2008. After the 2011 season it nearly folded when its bike sponsor, Cervélo, went through a difficult acquisition. Scale came by merger as much as by growth. Vaughters told VeloNews in 2014 that the 2008 budget, the year Christian Vande Velde finished fourth at the Tour, was “maybe $11 million”. He said budgets across the WorldTour had roughly doubled since 2007, with the richest teams running “just shy of 40 million U.S. dollars”. His answer was to combine, first with Cervélo and then, for 2015, with Cannondale. He did not hide the cost. He framed the Cannondale merger as a choice between putting about 200 people out of work across two teams, or 50 to 60. “It’s not an appetizing decision either way,” he said. ## Why did he make anti-doping an operating system rather than a slogan? Because it was the product he could sell when he could not buy results. His team paid for testing beyond the sport’s rules and told sponsors that was the deal. [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/sportsperson/2007/11/27/murphy-vaughters) reported that in early 2007 the team partnered with the Agency for Sporting Ethics, an independent body, and that its riders “voluntarily submit to roughly 20 times the number of blood and urine tests that their peers in the pro peloton are subjected to”. The magazine noted that the UCI later announced biological passports would become mandatory the following season. In the [2014 VeloNews interview](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-culture/at-home-with-jonathan-vaughters-part-1/) he described the commercial logic plainly. Sponsors had not been promised 50 wins a year, he said; they had been promised “this is the way we’re gonna do it”, and two doping cases would be “the end of the organization”. He also claimed the team had never had a positive test in a decade. That is his statement, and I report it as his. [Cyclingnews](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaughters-admits-to-doping-during-career/) noted a second policy that sits uneasily beside the first: the team took back riders who had doped, including David Millar and Thomas Dekker, on condition that measures were in place. You can argue about that. It is at least a stated rule, applied in public. ## What did running the teams’ association teach him about industry politics? That being loud is useful for building something and costly for keeping it. He chaired the professional teams’ association for four years and then handed it to someone less controversial. [Cyclingnews reported in October 2012](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaughters-will-not-seek-aigcp-re-election/) that he had been elected president of the AIGCP, the International Association of Professional Cycling Teams, in 2009 and would not stand again when his term ended in March 2013. “When I started the AIGCP was being dissolved,” he said. “Less than half the teams were members at that time.” Under his presidency the association pushed on rider pay, race radios and revenue sharing between the UCI, race organisers and teams. The same report notes that earlier in 2012 the association unanimously declared no confidence in the leadership of the UCI, then under [Pat McQuaid, who ran the governing body in the same years Vaughters ran the teams’ association](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/pat-mcquaid/). In 2014 he told [VeloNews](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-culture/at-home-with-jonathan-vaughters-part-1/) why he stepped aside. He had chosen “a couple of winnable battles” to get teams working together again, and had been deliberately loud in interviews. But a constant public critic, he said, ends up opposed in private “just to fight you, not to even fight the idea”. He backed Luuc Eisenga to take over because “he doesn’t have a controversial history”. ## Why did a team boss go back to business school? Because he concluded that the sport did not teach him how to build a stable company. He took an executive MBA at the University of Denver while his team was racing in the WorldTour. [Cyclingnews](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaughters-will-not-seek-aigcp-re-election/) linked his AIGCP exit in 2012 to running his team and starting the MBA. By November 2014, [VeloNews](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-culture/at-home-with-jonathan-vaughters-part-1/) reported, he had completed it at the Daniels College of Business. What he said he learned is the useful part. Professional cycling, he said, “is this continual startup that keeps blundering along and getting funded by new angel investors”. His response was “to develop an organization that functions perfectly well without me”, setting strategy without inserting himself into sponsorship sales, race tactics or logistics. He gave a concrete test. In 2014 he left Tour de France selection to his sports director, Charly Wegelius, who left out David Millar. Vaughters said he told Wegelius to make “the best sporting decision” and that he would handle any backlash. When it came, he and Ellis stood by the decision. That is a founder turning into a chief executive. Most founders I meet say they want an organisation that does not need them. Fewer back a delegated call when it goes wrong in public. If you are working out what to learn next yourself, that is the core of [a personal development plan](https://linusmurphy.com/guide/the-price-tag-of-leadership/your-personal-development-plan/). ## What happened when the money ran out in 2017? A sponsor deal collapsed, the team faced a $7 million hole, and EF Education First bought it outright. Vaughters stayed on as chief executive, but no longer as an owner with the final say. According to [VeloNews](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/we-bought-a-cycling-team-inside-ef-education-firsts-pro-cycling-experiment/), on 26 August 2017 he revealed the shortfall after a prospective sponsor pulled out late. On 9 September EF, which had heard about the team’s crowdfunding campaign, struck a deal in which it “purchased the team outright from Vaughters and his co-owner Doug Ellis”. The terms were not disclosed. “Did I receive a check? No, neither did \[Ellis\],” he said. [CyclingTips](https://web.archive.org/web/20190620125518/https://cyclingtips.com/2017/11/new-ownership-will-ef-education-first-impact-cannondale-drapac/), in November 2017, adds the detail a board would ask about. He admitted he had “hot-rodded” the 2017 budget by planning to pay November and December salaries from the UCI bank guarantee. EF first offered one year of sponsorship. He held out for longer, and EF’s condition was ownership. He was candid about the personal cost, saying he had been “basically depressed for over a year”. He also secured his own seat first. “EF wasn’t going to close the asset purchase of the team equity until I signed my contract,” he said. “I have a very long-term deal in place with them.” The trade-offs were real. [VeloNews](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/we-bought-a-cycling-team-inside-ef-education-firsts-pro-cycling-experiment/) reported an annual budget of $15 million to $17 million and a commitment of at least three years. EF took over the team’s North American travel and added staff for design, social media and marketing. Vaughters described himself as “a B-minus director and logistics manager and sponsorship sales person, and a C-plus accountant”. | Year | Racing | Business | | --- | --- | --- | | 1994 | Turns professional in September | — | | 1998 | Finishes the Vuelta a España with US Postal, second to last | — | | 1999 | Wins the Dauphiné Mont Ventoux time trial and the Route du Sud | — | | 2000 | Joins Crédit Agricole; top ten in three week-long races | — | | 2002 | Asks to be released for 2003 and leaves European racing | — | | 2003 | — | Founds a development squad with $50,000 (a 2018 report says 2004) | | 2007 | — | Slipstream-Chipotle; independent testing programme; Doug Ellis as backer | | 2009 | — | Elected president of the teams’ association, AIGCP | | 2012 | Admits in The New York Times that he doped | Announces AIGCP exit and an executive MBA | | 2014 | — | MBA completed; Cannondale merger agreed for 2015 | | 2017 | — | $7 million shortfall; EF Education First buys the team | ## What transfers from his racing to running an organisation, and what does not? Self-knowledge and patience transfer. Racing taught him his limits and how to work around them. It did not teach him budgets, ownership or how to let go of decisions. He had to learn those separately. **What transfers.** His 2002 letter is an honest piece of self-assessment: he knew he could not finish a Grand Tour in the top five, and said so while others were predicting it. That same honesty shows up in his business interviews, from the merger arithmetic to grading himself as an accountant. Boards rarely get that from a chief executive. **What transfers.** Starting with a cheque he could actually write. $50,000 and a development squad is a test, not a platform launch. Many athlete-founders announce a vision first and a team later. He did it the other way round. **What does not.** The racer’s instinct to win the argument in public. He said himself that being the loudest voice in the AIGCP made allies harder to find in the boardroom. In a company, the person who is right in every interview can still lose the vote. **What does not.** The idea that owning the team protects the founder. In 2017 the money decided, not the founder’s story. He kept his role by negotiating his contract before the sale closed. Any founder taking outside capital should read that sentence twice. Compare [Alberto Contador, who co-founded a bike business with fellow rider Ivan Basso rather than running a team](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/alberto-contador/): different product, same question about who holds the equity and who holds the vision. **The breach.** If your first career includes a public failure, the work is candour plus a system other people can check. His testing programme was a line item, open to audit, and it could have failed in public. A rebrand cannot do that. It is the same principle I work on in [From elite sport to the boardroom](https://linusmurphy.com/services/from-elite-sport-to-the-boardroom/): identity first, then a system that does not depend on your reputation. A rider can build an organisation that outlasts a jersey. When the first career was compromised, the second has to be easier to inspect, not harder. The other riders in [From the peloton to the boardroom](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/) show the same test from different angles. What leaders can take from this - Start with money you can actually lose. His was $50,000. - Anti-doping run as operations, with testing and a cost, is a product decision rather than a speech. - Build an organisation that works without you, then prove it by backing a delegated call. - A capital partner who becomes your owner changes your job. Negotiate your own contract before the deal closes. - A compromised first career does not forbid a serious second one. It raises the standard of candour. ## Questions I am asked **Did Jonathan Vaughters dope as a rider?** Yes, by his own admission. In a New York Times opinion piece published on 12 August 2012 he wrote "I chose to dope" and said he deeply regretted it. He did not give details of what he used, and I have not added any. **How did Vaughters start Slipstream Sports?** With $50,000 of his own money and a development squad of young American riders. Sports Illustrated dates that to 2003, VeloNews later dated the team's inception to 2004, and financier Doug Ellis became its financial backer. **Who owns the team now?** EF Education First. In September 2017, after a $7 million budget shortfall, EF bought the team from Vaughters and Ellis, and Vaughters stayed on as chief executive under a long-term contract. **Why did Vaughters take an MBA while running a WorldTour team?** Because the job had changed. He announced in 2012 that he would leave the teams' association presidency to focus on his team and an executive MBA at the University of Denver, which he had completed by late 2014. **What did he run besides his own team?** The AIGCP, the association of professional cycling teams. He was elected president in 2009, when fewer than half the teams were members, and stepped down in March 2013. **What is the main leadership lesson from Vaughters?** Trust after a breach comes from systems other people can inspect, not from statements. His team's early selling point was a testing programme that cost money and could fail in public. ## Sources 1. [Vaughters wins Mont Ventoux time trial (51st Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, stage 3)](http://web.archive.org/web/20030309121119/http://www.cyclingnews.com:80/results/1999/jun99/dauphine993.html) — Cyclingnews (Internet Archive snapshot), 9 June 1999 2. [Vaughters' views: A letter to Rob](https://velo.outsideonline.com/news/vaughters-views-a-letter-to-rob/) — VeloNews, 23 July 2002 3. [My Sportsman: Jonathan Vaughters](https://www.si.com/sportsperson/2007/11/27/murphy-vaughters) — Sports Illustrated, 27 November 2007 4. [How to Get Doping Out of Sports](http://web.archive.org/web/20120815163316/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-doping-out-of-sports.html) — The New York Times (Internet Archive snapshot, 15 August 2012), 12 August 2012 5. [Vaughters admits to doping during career](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaughters-admits-to-doping-during-career/) — Cyclingnews, 12 August 2012 6. [Vaughters will not seek AIGCP re-election](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaughters-will-not-seek-aigcp-re-election/) — Cyclingnews, 4 October 2012 7. [At home with Jonathan Vaughters, part 1](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-culture/at-home-with-jonathan-vaughters-part-1/) — VeloNews, 27 November 2014 8. [Under new ownership: How will EF Education First impact Cannondale-Drapac?](https://web.archive.org/web/20190620125518/https://cyclingtips.com/2017/11/new-ownership-will-ef-education-first-impact-cannondale-drapac/) — CyclingTips (Internet Archive snapshot), 7 November 2017 9. [We bought a cycling team! Inside EF Education First's pro cycling experiment](https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/we-bought-a-cycling-team-inside-ef-education-firsts-pro-cycling-experiment/) — VeloNews, 19 September 2018 ![Portrait of Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/images/portraits/linus-headshot.jpg) **[Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/about/)** Elite executive coach [Book a 30-minute strategy call](https://calendly.com/linusmurphy-coaching/30min) Other riders: [Eddy Merckx](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/eddy-merckx/); [Greg LeMond](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/greg-lemond/); [Sean Kelly](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/sean-kelly/); [Chris Boardman](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/chris-boardman/); [Sir Chris Hoy](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/chris-hoy/); [Alberto Contador](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/alberto-contador/); [Fabian Cancellara](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/fabian-cancellara/); [Tom Boonen](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/tom-boonen/); [Pat McQuaid](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/pat-mcquaid/). ## The jersey is not the strategy If you raced at a serious level and now hold a chair — or you are about to — I will work the identity and the operating system. 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