Richard Carapaz: "I am fully aiming for the overall win"

With no hesitation, Richard Carapaz does not shrug off the pressure off his shoulders as he is aware of his favouritism status, and his high aims of winning the Vuelta a Espana.

"I've been on the podium here before, I know what it's like to fight for the win. It will be a battle of 3 weeks, with some "tricky" stages in the beginning, but that is also part of the race," Carapaz said in a press release. "Furthermore, it is a demanding course with a lot of uphill finishes".

"There are a lot of strong riders at the start here, it will probably be a solid and exciting fight. Anyway, I had an excellent preparation and I feel completely ready for this race. This is the race I know best," the Ecuadorian stated. After finishing the Giro d'Italia in second place - loosing the pink jersey on the penultimate day - he will want to take revenge in Spain, and having prepared specifically for the race he comes in as one of the big favourites with perhaps the strongest team.

He'll have the support of 2020 Giro winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, recent Vuelta a Burgos winner and runner-up at Clasica San Sebastian Pavel Sivakov, Spanish champion and super domestique Carlos Rodríguez, and Australian Luke Plapp who ripped the Vuelta a Catalunya earlier this year to help Carapaz into his biggest win of the year. "It's good to get the confidence of the team. Everyone is eager," he said. He'll also have the support of Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle, versatile supertalent Ethan Hayter and Grand Tour debutant Ben Turner.

"After my second place in the Giro, I am at the start with great ambition. I am fully aiming for the overall win," Carapaz concluded. The race will start tomorrow in Utrecht with a team time-trial, however soon enough in the first week the race will go into the mountains where the serious differences will start being made.