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Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz made a splash in the Tour de France, where the overall standings were won by three vintage cyclists, but he managed to become the “best land cyclist”.
That was his goal if he failed to fight for the general ranking, and the Ecuadorian achieved it with flying colors, wearing the yellow jersey for a day, winning a stage, claiming the King of the Mountains jersey and being selected for the Super Edition.
“In the end, it was a very pleasant Tour. When I arrived in Italy, our starting point, I had some doubts because of the fall. His health was not good. I had not yet found my way. But throughout the Tour de France I improved more and more, which was very good for me,” said the EF cyclist after the final time trial in Nice.
The Ecuadorian rider has twice finished on the final step of the Tour de France podium, including third overall in 2019, and he always had a big smile on his face.
“I had already found my legs in the second week and then I knew what I could do. “It was the best thing for me, to end the week like we did, winning the stage, being king of the mountains and showing that we can achieve our goals,” he said.
The Ecuadorian achieved many of the goals he had set himself in case the physical problems caused by the Tour of Suisse accident and the subsequent infection prevented him from competing for the general classification.
But most importantly, Carapaz highlighted his victory in the Superdévoluy race, his first in the Tour de France.
“My favourite memory is my stage win. That’s the best feeling because it was a very, very hard day and it was one of those days where I marked it and I wanted to continue. It was very important to achieve that,” he commented.
That day, he became the 110th cyclist in history to win a stage in the Big Three, a goal he had not achieved that year when he finished on the podium, or the following year when he entered the stage with teammate Michal Kwiatkwoski. But the stage win belonged to the Pole.
Earlier, he wore the yellow jersey for the first time on stage 3 in Turin, the same city where he won the Giro d’Italia, becoming the 25th rider to win the leader’s jersey in all three Grand Tours.
The yellow lasted just one day, but he kept repeating how it was “very special” for him and his team.
“For me, this is the best team to work with because we all know very well what our goals are and that helps us a lot in achieving them. That’s what makes the difference. We are a team that works as a team. The individual results belong to the whole team: the riders, the crew, everyone has been doing a great job throughout the Tour de France,” he noted.
On the Plateau de Beille he starred in an epic jailbreak that, although unsuccessful due to a push from Pogacar, earned him the Combatant of the Day selection and kicked off a string of jailbreaks that earned him points in the mountain classification.
This strategy paid off for him as he eventually became the King of the Mountain, but it also made him the most combative person in the meta. (Four)
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