Carapaz sees one major advantage over his rivals: "This is my natural habitat"

In stage fifteen, Carapaz once again showed his fighting spirit. He launched an attack on Monte Grappa, and under the pressure of his acceleration on the final climb, Primoz Roglic cracked, losing a minute and a half by the end. “I think we did very well,” Carapaz told Ciclismo Internacional afterward. “We tried to break the race, just like INEOS did. It was a key day for the general classification.”

UAE Team Emirates–XRG also pushed the pace, though some tension appeared to surface between Juan Ayuso and Isaac Del Toro. As the race progresses, the team’s two leaders seem to be increasingly at odds. “There were a lot of conflicting interests at play, and we were in the right place,” Carapaz said. “But we still have a very important week ahead."

After Monday’s rest day, the Giro d’Italia gets straight back to business with a brutally hard mountain stage. The ride to San Valentino marks the start of the third week, a week where everything will be decided, according to 2019 Giro winner Richard Carapaz. “This rest day came at a good time for us, because what lies ahead is going to be very tough,” he said in an interview with Marca. “There are more than 22,000 meters of climbing still to come, and it’s crucial for the team to always stay near the front.”

Carapaz’s lead-up to the Giro was somewhat unconventional. The level in his early season races wasn’t high enough, but a high-altitude training camp in his home country paid off. The massive elevation gains in the final week won’t be a problem for him. “I raced in Europe with the team as planned, and then I went to Ecuador to train at altitude. I’m a child of the high mountains; that’s where I developed, and it’s essential for me. It’s my natural habitat.”

The leader of the American team knows that UAE Team Emirates–XRG is a tough opponent. “They’re very strong, they’ve controlled the race well, but now comes the hardest part. We’ll have to see how long they can keep it up.” He hopes to break the dominance of the Emirati team. Can he win the Giro? “Yes,” he says with full confidence. “We’re going to do our best to be there. Every day counts.”

It was Carapaz who dealt a major blow to the GC hopes of rival Roglic. The Slovenian is currently in tenth place, nearly four minutes behind the pink jersey. But the Ecuadorian, who battled Roglic fiercely during the 2020 Vuelta, has nothing but praise for his rival and hasn’t written him off. “The crash has taken its toll, but he’s a great cyclist, and I have a lot of admiration for him.”