"We fought with everything we had" - Richard Carapaz puts up a valiant effort to finish 9th on Plateau de Beille after a day in the breakaway

After Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates completely annihilated breakaway yesterday, many hoped the Slovenian would give his teammates a bit of a restday and give a chance to the breakaway adventurers. However the group which included Richard Carapaz quickly realized their efforts would come in vain as Jonas Vingegaard had plans to attack this time. Still, the Ecuadorian with his comrades put up a brave fight on the slopes of Plateau de Beille. For the EF Education-EasyPost rider this resulted in a 9th place on a stage and red numbers for Tuesday's stage 16.

"It was a good breakaway, but the peloton did not give us enough of a gap to win on the final climb. We fought with everything we had, but we knew that it was very difficult for our breakaway to be successful," the most combative rider of the stage Carapaz shared in press communication.

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The escapees had an advantage of 2:30 at the foot of Plateau de Beille, however under the brutal pace set by Matteo Jorgenson, the gap quickly dropped to 50 seconds. That was when Jonas Vingegaard took off with 8 kilometers to go. The duo quickly caught the remaining escapees. Carapaz was the last man standing, but not even the 2019 Giro winner could hold on for too long. "When Tadej and Jonas reached us, I tried to follow them for as long as I could... but they had a different pace."

Carapaz can still look at his performance today with a pride. "Before the Tour I was sick and that made me a little worse than I expected. Even so, I managed to wear the Yellow Jersey one day. Now I'm doing another race. There are many opportunities left in the mountains, and I am very happy because I feel that my legs are getting better."

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