While Tour de France chief Tadej Pogačar dominated the general classification and claimed his fourth stage victory at Isola 2000 on Friday, there was a serious victory for EF Education-EasyPost on stage 19 as Richard Carapaz moved into the lead of the mountains classification.
Carapaz would have been the staff’s GC chief had he not crashed throughout the Tour de Suisse after which fallen unwell simply earlier than the beginning of the Tour de France, however salvaged his race by sporting the maillot jaune for a day after taking the lead on stage 3 and successful stage 17 at Superdévoluy from the breakaway.
Getting into the polka dot climber’s jersey was the subsequent goal on the record and whereas Carapaz needed to combat his manner throughout to the day’s breakaway on the primary ascent of stage 19, the Col du Vars, his staff made positive the Ecuadoran earned the utmost factors on the climb and the second ascent, the Cime de la Bonette.
“My staff did an incredible job to permit me to get into the breakaway on the day, and as soon as I used to be there, I fought to get as many factors as doable,” Carapaz stated.
He hoped to win the stage however misplaced contact with breakaway companion Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike). Ultimately, Pogačar stormed previous the entire escapees to grab the stage win.
“I used to be conscious that the climb may be very powerful and I attempted to remain as near Jorgenson as doable. However, I could not… and Tadej got here from behind to remove any likelihood of victory,” Carapaz stated.
“Anyway, I’m very proud of how the day went. This mountain jersey is a prestigious prize. All riders in my nation dream of it as a result of in Ecuador there are lots of mountains. Being the King of the Mountains means rather a lot to me. I’m going to attempt to preserve this jersey till the tip. It is my nice private objective, and the staff can be supporting me rather a lot to attain it.”
Carapaz might depend on teammate Nielson Powless to assist him get throughout to the breakaway.
“I went again to assist him get throughout to the breakaway, and it was most likely one of many hardest 5 minutes of my life,” Powless stated. “We had a transparent objective, and I knew that he was our greatest likelihood to win at the moment and get the mountain factors, so I’d say I’m actually glad with the way in which issues labored out.”
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