Richard Carapaz facts for kids

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Richard Carapaz

Carapaz in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro
Nickname	La Locomotora, El Jaguar de Tulcan, Billy
Born	(1993-05-29) 29 May 1993 (age 30) Tulcán Canton, Ecuador
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb; 9 st 11 lb)
Team information
Current team	EF Education–EasyPost
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia General classification (2019) 3 individual stages (2018, 2019) Vuelta a España Mountains classification (2022) 3 individual stages (2022) Stage races Tour de Suisse (2021) One-day races and Classics Olympic Games Road Race (2021) National Road Race Championships (2023) National Time Trial Championships (2022)

Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro (born 29 May 1993) is an Ecuadorian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost. Carapaz won the 2019 Giro d'Italia, becoming the first Ecuadorian rider to win the race. In July 2021, he won the gold medal in the road race at the 2020 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Ecuadorian cyclist to win a medal and only the second Ecuadorian in any sport to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. In doing so, he became the first cyclist to achieve an Olympic road race gold medal and a podium finish in each of the three Grand Tours.

Early life

Carapaz was born in El Carmelo, Tulcán Canton. Whilst at school, he was mentored by one of his teachers, former Olympic racing cyclist Juan Carlos Rosero, who started a cycling club at the school. The club has also produced a number of other professional riders, including Jhonatan Narváez and Jonathan Caicedo. Prior to taking up cycling, Carapaz competed for his school as a runner.

Career

Movistar Team (2016–2019)

2016

Carapaz began his career with amateur teams in Ecuador, Colombia and Spain. On 28 July 2016, he joined Movistar Team from Lizarte as a trainee for the remainder of the 2016 season. He signed as a professional rider ahead of the 2017 season.

2017

In his first full year for the Movistar Team, Carapaz came second in both the GP Industria & Artigianato and the Route du Sud. He made his Grand Tour debut in the Vuelta a España, finishing 36th overall.

2018

His first professional victories came in 2018, with a stage and the overall in the Vuelta a Asturias. He won stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia, becoming the first Ecuadorian cyclist to win a Grand Tour stage. He finished in the top ten in five other stages of that race, and finished fourth in the general classification. He also completed the 2018 Vuelta a España in 18th place.

2019

Carapaz wearing the maglia rosa on stage 17 of the 2019 Giro d'Italia

Carapaz again won the Vuelta a Asturias in 2019, and went on to win the 2019 Giro d'Italia. After multiple crashes late in stage 4 saw several riders go down and a select group break off on the front, Carapaz made an attack in the final kilometre to take the stage win. On Stage 13, Carapaz attacked and got clear of the two favourites for overall victory, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain–Merida) and Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo–Visma). This placed him among the other favourites, two minutes down on Roglič. On stage 14, Carapaz again attacked and won the stage by almost two minutes, taking the general classification lead. Carapaz successfully defended his lead for the rest of the race to take the overall victory. Carapaz became the first Ecuadorian rider to win a Grand Tour and the second South American rider to win the Giro, after Colombian Nairo Quintana in 2014.

Team Ineos (2020–2022)

2020

Carapaz wearing the polka dot jersey at the 2020 Tour de France

Carapaz joined Team Ineos at the beginning of the 2020 season on a three-year deal. His first win for the team came on 7 August, on the third stage of the Tour de Pologne: on the uphill drag to the finish, Carapaz made an attack in the final kilometre and held off the peloton. In the Tour de France, he came second in both stages 16 and 18. On the latter stage, he finished alongside teammate Michał Kwiatkowski, who won the stage, while Carapaz took the lead in the mountains classification from Tadej Pogačar. However, two days later, Pogačar retook the lead, and also won the stage and moved into the overall race lead; Carapaz ultimately finished second in the mountains classification.

In the Vuelta a España, Carapaz was once again a challenger for overall victory and traded places with defending champion Primož Roglič several times for the race lead. He first took the red jersey of the race leader on stage 6 from Roglič. On stage 10, Carapaz relinquished it back to Roglič, who won the day's stage, though the two were tied on time and had to be differentiated by tiebreakers. Carapaz regained the race lead briefly after stage 12, but lost it for good to Roglič after the thirteenth stage. On the mountainous penultimate stage, with Roglič, Carapaz, and Hugh Carthy locked in a three-way battle for the overall victory, Carapaz attacked but only managed to take 15 seconds on Carthy and 21 seconds on Roglič. In doing so, he secured a second place overall finish.

2021

Carapaz took his first victory of the 2021 season on 10 June, winning the mountainous fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse. In so doing, he took the general classification lead, which he defended over the remaining five stages to take the overall win by 17 seconds ahead of Rigoberto Urán.

Carapaz was named to the Ineos Grenadiers's Tour de France squad as one of four possible contenders for the general classification alongside Tao Geoghegan Hart, Richie Porte, and Tour winner Geraint Thomas. After the other three riders were involved in crashes and lost time in the first week, Carapaz emerged as the sole leader. He would eventually finish third overall.

Carapaz won the Olympic road race, finishing over a minute clear of the rest of the field. He initially followed an attack by Brandon McNulty with 25 kilometres (16 mi) to go, but with 5.8 kilometres (3.6 mi) left, he pulled away from McNulty and rode across the finish line solo.

2022

Carapaz (right) with Jai Hindley at the 2022 Giro d'Italia

Carapaz began the 2022 season at the Étoile de Bessèges in early February, in which he crashed during stage 3 and abandoned prior to the last stage, having already lost over nine minutes to eventual winner Benjamin Thomas. His bad luck continued at the Tour de la Provence about a week later, from which he was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19 despite showing no symptoms. However, Carapaz took his first win of the season later that month at the Ecuadorian National Time Trial Championships, which was also his first national title at the elite level. His next important success came during stage 6 of the 2022 Volta a Catalunya when he went on a long-distance attack with Sergio Higuita. The pair stayed away for over 100 kilometers and raced all the way to the line with Carapaz taking the stage win and moving into 2nd on GC.

EF Education-EasyPost

2023

On 19 August 2022 it was announced Carapaz would join EF Education–EasyPost from the 2023 season on a three-year contract.

Major results

General classification results timeline

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Giro d'Italia	—	4	1	—	—	2	—
Tour de France	—	—	—	13	3	—	DNF
Vuelta a España	36	18	—	2	DNF	14	—
Major stage race general classification results
Race	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Paris–Nice	—	11	—	—	—	—	—
Tirreno–Adriatico	—	—	20	—	—	DNF	—
Volta a Catalunya	—	—	26	NH	21	2	51
Tour of the Basque Country	—	—	—		—	—	DNF
Tour de Romandie	38	—	—		—	—	—
Critérium du Dauphiné	44	—	—	—	—	—	36
Tour de Suisse	—	—	—	NH	1	—	—

Major championships timeline

Event		2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Olympic Games	Road race	Not held			1	Not held
	Time trial				—
World Championships	Road race	71	DNF	22	—	—
	Time trial	—	—	—	—	—
National Championships	Road race	—	—	—	—	2	1
	Time trial	—	—	—	—	1	—

See also

In Spanish: Richard Carapaz para niños