NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eight Sleep, the world’s leading sleep fitness company, announces that the EF Education - EasyPost team will use its advanced Pod 4 technology during the 2024 Tour de France. As the Official Sleep Partner, Eight Sleep will provide the team with its award-winning Pods to enhance their recovery and performance. The intelligent system is designed to improve sleep quality, adding up to an hour of sleep per night and reducing wake time by up to three hours per month. The Pods will ensure EF Pro Cycling athletes are well-rested and ready for the challenging stages of the Tour.
This collaboration highlights EF Pro Cycling's focus on performance optimization through cutting-edge technology. Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 offers personalized sleep strategies and valuable insights, positioning EF Education-EasyPost Team as the only team in the Tour de France with such advanced sleep solutions, giving them a distinctive competitive edge.
By adopting the Pod 4, EF Pro Cycling demonstrates its commitment to maintaining peak readiness. This innovative sleep technology ensures their athletes are fully prepared to tackle the Tour de France with exceptional vigor and determination.
The EF Education-EasyPost Tour de France roster will feature elite athletes Alberto Bettiol, Ben Healy, Marijn van den Berg, Neilson Powless, Richard Carapaz, Rui Costa, Sean Quinn and Stefan Bissegger. These top-tier riders have access to the unparalleled benefits of the Pod 4 during the Tour de France 2024. These benefits include individualized heating and cooling, automatic snoring detection, and advanced sleep-tracking capabilities, empowering athletes to optimize their recovery and performance like never before.
"Traveling for the Tour with the Pods has been a game-changer for us,” said Neilson Powless, EF Pro Cycling rider and Tour de France competitor. “I've felt a significant boost in performance and recovery since using the Pod. The insights gained from Eight Sleep about my body and sleep habits have been invaluable, and I'm excited to apply them as I gear up for another Tour de France this year. Plus, many of the hotels we stay in do not have air conditioning, so being able to cool myself with Eight Sleep is a big improvement.”
“Working with EF Pro Cycling is a natural fit for us. The Eight Sleep Pods are designed for those looking to perform at their best, and sleep is a crucial part of that journey,” said Matteo Franceschetti, Co-Founder and CEO of Eight Sleep. “The Tour de France is one of the most challenging sports competitions in the world, both mentally and physically. As sleep optimization becomes increasingly recognized in the world of sports, the Pod 4 offers these cyclists a valuable tool to aid their recovery and improve their performance. We’re honored to support them and be part of this important shift towards better sleep and performance.”
Dr. Kevin Sprouse, EF Pro Cycling’s Director of Sport Science, adds, "The Pod's ability to track sleep stages, heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiratory rate is truly extraordinary. By understanding these patterns, athletes and their teams of trainers and doctors can tailor their training or performance accordingly, leveraging the insights provided by Eight Sleep technology. With Eight Sleep, I witnessed an almost uniform increase in deep sleep during our team’s first year of sleeping on the Pods in 2023, which is pretty remarkable. We’re confident that continuing the partnership will allow the riders to experience better and higher-quality sleep, providing them a crucial competitive edge as we enter the Tour de France."
The EF Pro Cycling team joins over 300 professional athletes leveraging Eight Sleep technology for performance optimization, including tennis pro Taylor Fritz, MLB star Aaron Judge, NFL quarterback Brock Purdy, NBA player Jimmy Butler, and Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton. This announcement coincides with Eight Sleep’s launch of the Pod 4 Ultra, driven by Autopilot 3.0, which personalizes the sleep experience for optimal recovery using advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence trained on over 1.2 million hours of sleep data.
For more information on Eight Sleep or to discover the Pod 4, visit eightsleep.com. To access visuals, please visit the digital press kit.
About Eight Sleep
Eight Sleep is the world's first sleep fitness company developing hardware, software, and AI technologies to improve sleep. Its signature product, the Pod, powers pro athletes and everyday high performers around the globe, including the top American Tennis player Taylor Fritz, the EF Pro Cycling team, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Patrick Peterson, Brock Purdy, and Chelsea Gray. Eight Sleep was named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2019, 2022, and 2023, and recognized two years in a row by TIME's “Best Inventions of the Year.” Eight Sleep is available in the United States (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and other US territories), European Union (excluding Cyprus, Greece, and Malta), Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia via eightsleep.com.
About EF Pro Cycling
The EF Pro Cycling organization is America’s longest-running top level team, initially founded in 2003. EF Education First entered professional cycling in 2018 to help spread its mission of “opening the world through education.” Founded in 1965, EF Education First provides culturally immersive education through language, travel, cultural exchange, and academic programs in over 100 countries. Learn more at efprocycling.com.