"The whole Giro is going to be very important" and Richard Carapaz is ready to fight for the pink jersey

Richard Carapaz turned his career around for good with his 2019 victory in the Giro d'Italia with Movistar Team. In the 3 participations that the Ecuadorian has had in his life in the corsa rosa he has finished fourth, first and second in his last participation in 2022.

As leader of EF Education he will have total freedom to try to win stages or focus on the overall. Before the race he was happy in statements collected by Cycling Pro Net: "Very happy, this start is very special for me, I have made the best preparation, I am very happy and with great ambitions."

Carapaz has asserted himself as someone who will be fighting for the overall classification and with a victory in the pocket already six years ago, it will be hard to imagine he will settle for anything less than a podium. This will largely depend on his form and health, but last Vuelta he showed once again that he is still capable of achieving such a feat.

For this race, he has prepared for it back home, away from all his rivals in Europe: "I've been now at altitude in Ecuador, I've been at home preparing it in the best way, I've made a preparation according to come here, I hope to do my best."

He hints that the course is not too special for him until the last week, where all the hard stuff is concentrated: "It's a quite particular route that is very well marked, the whole Giro is going to be very important, you have to be very attentive."

Lastly, he spoke about the team's new jersey, as he was unable to wear his usual one because it coincided with the maglia rosa: "We can't wear EF pink and today we wore white which looks great on us."