This article was published in Issue 135 of Rouleur.
Two instructive races in the history of Richard Carapaz: on stage 13 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia, while hot race favourites Primoż Roglič and Vincenzo Nibali marked each other, the Ecuadorian climber quietly stole ahead, gaining 79 seconds. He did the same the next day, attacking to win the stage, while Roglič and Nibali freewheeled behind and conceded almost another two minutes. By the time the Slovenian and the Italian realised they’d been watching the wrong rider, it was too late: Carapaz went on to win the maglia rosa. And in the Tokyo Olympic Games Road Race in 2021, he put himself in front of the main group of favourites, and while they looked at each other, they weren’t looking at the gold medal disappearing up the road.
Therefore it is hard to believe that as Richard Carapaz goes into this year’s Giro d’Italia, he will do so as an outsider, and not a favourite. He’s not only won the thing, but he’s been second and fourth; he’s been second (by 24 seconds) and fourth in the Vuelta a España; he’s been third overall at the Tour de France, and was the yellow jersey for a day and the winner of the polka-dot jersey in last year’s race.
But Carapaz has spent his entire career as the outsider. Growing up in the remote Ecuadorian village of La Playa, high in the Andes Mountains at 3,000 metres, he was far removed from the traditional hotbeds of the sport. And yet somehow, he managed to make his way to Europe and catch the eye of numerous WorldTour teams.
“When I first started cycling, I didn’t know anything about the world of professional cycling. I had no idea that there were professional races or professional cyclists,” he says. “My dad bought me my first bike. It wasn’t a racing bike or anything, just a normal bike. But it was super special. A lot of guys I have raced with had nice bikes very young, but not me. It was just a bike for getting around. I loved it. It gave me so much freedom – I rode everywhere.”
Carapaz describes growing up in Ecuador as a contrast to what most Europeans know. “Life is more simple, less complicated,” he says. “There are not a lot of cars, or high buildings. When I am in my home, in my mountains, it is so relaxing. People have a different perspective on life. You don’t need a calendar, and a lot of people don’t even wear a watch.”
Carapaz admits that transitioning from Ecuador to Europe did not come easily, and even today he struggles with the traffic and the stress of daily life. But his upbringing gave him a perspective on life that has helped him negotiate the pressures of the professional peloton. Carapaz is a free spirit, and he happens to be one with a burning desire to win bike races.
“What impresses me most about Richard is his determination,” says Juan Manuel Gárate, his sports director at the EF-EasyPost team, where Carapaz has ridden since 2023. “I don’t think I have ever met a rider who is so determined. He is so competitive, and he really can improvise. He doesn’t have a fixed plan, but when he gets an idea in his head, he really goes for it.”
Combine that capacity to see opportunities with great climbing strength and the ability to fly under the radar, and you get wins like the 2019 Giro. Did he plan to win the Giro that year?
“Oh no, Mikel Landa was our team leader,” Carapaz says. “I just wanted to win a stage, and when I did that in the first week, I was focused on working for Mikel. And even when I took over the pink jersey, I was working for Mikel. When I attacked, I was just trying to set up Landa, but I went on to win the stage and eventually the race.”
Did he plan to grab the yellow jersey in the Tour de France last year? “That was not a plan,” he responds with a gentle laugh. “I crashed in the Tour de Suisse and didn’t really know where my condition was coming into the Tour. My plan was actually to take the first week easy and then try to win a stage in the second week and see where I was at the start of the third week, but things didn’t go according to plan. I felt good at the start of the Tour, and when I had a chance to go for yellow, I went for it.”
Did he plan to win the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games? “No, I had even less of a plan,” he says, his eyes lighting up while he shakes his head vigorously. “I just wanted to race in the Olympics. But there were so many riders in the race, and Ecuador only had two riders. There were a lot of big teams and a lot of big riders. I knew that my only chance was to wait for my moment. I waited and waited, and then, when I attacked, I got away and stayed away.”
In an era where races are dominated by the biggest teams and biggest riders, Carapaz is a throwback: a racer with a clear sense of opportunism and a keen instinct for a leftfield race win. The plan is that there is no plan. Some people thrive offthat, and others do not.
Carapaz has found the perfect home on EF–EasyPost, as the American squad has earned a reputation for its aggressive and sometimes unpredictable racing style.
“He is the type of leader we need,” Jonathan Vaughters, the team’s founder and manager, tells Rouleur. “For me to build a team to chase around fourth place in the Tour de France is no fun. We try to steer away from being this robotic team that is out there chasing points. On this team I like to win and to win with style. If we go out in a ball of flames and nobody finishes in the top 20 because we threw everything at trying to win, that’s okay. We are about racing with style, racing with panache, and Richard is all of those things. He is impulsive, he is creative, he is intelligent. He wins big or he explodes spectacularly. It is one or the other. It is never in between with him. That can be nerve wracking for certain teams, who might try to control him and corral him, but we don’t even try. Richard is Richard, and you need to work with him.”
At times Vaughters admits that even the team does not know when Carapaz might attack. “Look at the Tour de France last year,” says Vaughters. “Before the race, he had a bad crash in the Tour de Suisse. He had stitches all over and got sick. He was 10 days off the bike. 10 days! He trained about five days before the Tour and won the yellow jersey after the third day. We had no idea how he did that. Okay, he didn’t have a good second week after that, because basically he was still getting fit after his crash. How did you do that? How did you use the Tour de France to get fit? Any other rider forced to take 10 days off before the Tour would never even finish.”
Vaughters admits that working with Carapaz can provide challenges as well. “He is pure natural talent,” says Vaughters. “But sometimes it is a little frustrating. Sometimes you think that if he was more focused and detail-oriented for 12 months a year, he could probably be at the top of the sport more consistently. Honestly, he has not accomplished anywhere near his true potential in cycling, when you think about his raw ability. And that alone is crazy when you consider that he is already an Olympic gold medallist, that he has already won the Giro... When he unplugs in the offseason, he unplugs. It can be frustrating for our performance team because they cannot get in touch with him. But that is his personality. What amazes me, however, is how quickly he can come back and get in shape, be it from an injury or just because he took two months’ vacation in the offseason. But that is Richard. He is the anti-Vingegaard or Pogačar. He is old school South America. Sometimes it can be frustrating but mostly we find it endearing.”
One of Carapaz’s strengths has been his ability to improvise in a race, be it in the most heated moments of competition, or as a stage race evolves. His ride into the polka-dot jersey in the Tour last year is a case in point. Despite having worn the yellow jersey for a day, he’d struggled for form, and even going into the second Pyrenean stage, the 14th, he only had four points in the climbers’ classification.
But when he won stage 17 to Superdévoluy as the race went back into the Alps in the final week, he saw an opening.
“I knew that on stage 19 I had an opportunity,” he says. “That was the stage to Isola 2000 where we went over the Col de la Bonette, which had double points because it was the highest climb in the Tour. I knew that I had to win all the points on that climb to win the polka dots, because Tadej was taking a lot of points on all the big climbs. It was complicated but I took a lot of points in the last week, and then I went into the breakaway early that day and picked up more points.”
Jumping into a powerful break that included Matteo Jorgenson, Jai Hindley and Simon Yates, Carapaz managed to crest both the Col de Vars and the Col de la Bonette ahead of the others. And although Pogačar powered away to take the stage at the summit of Isola 2000, Carapaz finished fourth behind him and pulled the historic polka-dot jersey over his shoulders for the first time with only two days remaining.
Carapaz’s next objective is the upcoming Giro d’Italia, which he will start for the fourth time in his career. And he will enter the race with victory in mind, although in typical Carapaz fashion, he has no strategy etched in stone, no key stage where he plans to make his move. But he knows the race well, and he understands that the volatile nature of Italy’s Grand Tour suits him.
“Compared to the Tour de France, everything in the Giro is more open,” says Gárate. “Already last year, 24 hours after the Vuelta, we talked about the Giro this year and how it would be his next big objective. But I cannot say now, what is the secret of this year’s Giro. The Giro is always hard. We won’t say at the end of the Giro that there was no room for attacks. I think there will be a lot of room for attacks and I think it is a good course for Richard.”
“I like this year’s Giro route,” agrees Carapaz. “But a lot will depend on the way it is raced. There will be a lot of big riders at the start and I will have to play offthem. I will have to look for opportunities. I will have to look for the right moment.”
The Giro holds a special place for Carapaz. It is a race he grew up listening to on the local radio station in Ecuador, and it was the scene of his first great victory. He will be trying to win a second title against a deep list of favourites that includes Primoż Roglič, Juan Ayuso, Adam and Simon Yates, fellow former maglia rosa winner Jai Hindley and his old team-mate Landa. Enough big names that they’ll be watching each other closely. Maybe closely enough for Carapaz to take advantage. It wouldn’t be the first time.
