Richard Carapaz discussion thread

[gunara]

What a headache, seems that Pogačar will be the only true and tested GC contender without joint leadership/order of train issue next year.

 

[Pippo_San]

If Bernal's back does not respond to therapy then it will be Carapaz. Would Ineos designate Thomas as co-leader? Way too early to say. If Thomas does not impress in the run up then IMO Ineos should go all in for Carapaz with a powerful train and Ganna/DennisSivakov/Hart as domestiques, with Hart as the second GC option. I know that's a bit extreme but at the moment Carapaz, to me, is the most convincing GT threat. I think Hart was a one-off, to be honest. Happy to be wrong tho.

One-off or not, the only leader at Ineos who won big is TGH.
So I think he deserves to be the prime choice in whatever he would like.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't really know why people are this down about Bernal for next year.

 

[Põhja Konn]

If Bernal does the Giro, Carapaz should certainly be at least a co-leader at the Tour. Thomas and Porte are getting old and Sivakov needs to take another step up . I'm not completely sold on Hart either - this Giro was too much of an outlier to properly gauge his level compared to the likes of Pogacar and Roglic.

As of now, the only realistic candidates for a Tour win in their team aside from Bernal are Thomas and Carapaz. And we all know that for INEOS, only the overall win matters - so if Bernal does really do the Giro then the other two will almost certainly be leading the Tour team. And no way they will let Bernal completely skip the Tour either.

 

[johnymax]

I like him a lot. His style on the climbs is great to watch and when he attacks, he doesn't look back.
Some time ago I said he is Ineos' best card to play for GTs in the near future. It was a bold statement but I was close. He is 3rd best now, behind Tao and Dennis of course.

 

[fantomas]

This guy could be what Contador fans like myself have been looking for.

 

[tobydawq]

I don't really know why people are this down about Bernal for next year.

He's quite a decent talent, you know. He won the Tour last year, remember?

 

[Red Rick]

He's quite a decent talent, you know. He won the Tour last year, remember?

Clearly on the decline apparently.

 

[JosefK]

Carapaz was my pick to win the Vuelta (2020) early on, although I was happy to see Roglic gut it out for the win. I am impressed by Richard. He may be Ineos's best GC rider. A healthy Bernal might be the go-to pick for the TDF in 2021, but I don't know. Yes, I know G is still with Ineos, but he'll be 35 next year. Tao Geoghegan Hart had a breakthrough year, but an in-form Carapaz is better than an in-form Tao, I think. Maybe things evolve in another direction next year, who knows.

 

[McEwen2006]

Great race from Carapaz. It's a shame Ineos messed up his preparation, but this guy is truly one of the best Grand Tour riders now. His Giro 2019 win was no fluke, although most people on here already knew it.

 

[lenric]

Starting to really like this guy.

 

[SafeBet]

BTW I love his nickname.
La locomotora del Carchi.

 

[TomLPC]

BTW I love his nickname.

El Jaguar de Tulcan?

 

[Lequack]

Great Vuelta for Richard, great battle till the end!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1325484921033469958

View: https://twitter.com/INEOSGrenadiers/status/1325484921033469958?s=20

 

[KZD]

I think that he is one of the few 'pure climbers' that is going to win another Grand Tour

 

[Gigs_98]

He is really good, but not sure if he's gonna win another gt. While he is a very good climber I don't think he is a dominant one. He wasn't a dominant climber in the giro he won and he was actually outclimbed multiple times in this Vuelta. I'm just not confident there will be a gt where he climbs well enough to make up for the time he will usually lose in the TT's.
Let's not forget he only won the Giro because he got overlooked by two of his main rivals. That will never happen again

 

[solo80k]

This guy could be what Contador fans like myself have been looking for.

That's true when it comes to his style, unfortunately he's not as talented as Alberto. He also is looking more human than some top guns like Pogacar, Bernal, Thomas or Roglic.

This is why many people will support him, no matter which team he races.

 

[SafeBet]

His preparation was kind of messed up. He was supposed to ride the Giro, but then was rushed to the Tour and had to find his form there. I don't think he was at his best during the Vuelta.

Hopefully he'll get another shot at the Giro next year, I'm pretty confident he will be an elite climber for a long time if he stays with Ineos.

 

[Red Rick]

His prep was fine. He knew he was gonna do the Vuelta like 10 weeks in advance.

He just had a *** team and the way the route and racing turned out wasn't very beneficial to him. Roglic was there for the taking, and I'm confident he wouldn't have been in the 2019 Vuelta. A lot depends on what the field of the Giro will look like next year. Seems to me like he's likely to be like 3rd/4th favorite.

 

[will-10]

He is really good, but not sure if he's gonna win another gt. While he is a very good climber I don't think he is a dominant one. He wasn't a dominant climber in the giro he won and he was actually outclimbed multiple times in this Vuelta. I'm just not confident there will be a gt where he climbs well enough to make up for the time he will usually lose in the TT's.
Let's not forget he only won the Giro because he got overlooked by two of his main rivals. That will never happen again

Hmmm, I'm not convinced. He got within 24s of winning this one as a top favourite (i.e. overlooked by no-one).
I think ultimately his skillset is very well-suited to a "normal" Giro route or a really hard Vuelta like this one. I don't see him winning a TdF but he's a fun guy to root for.

 

[Blanco]

I thought he was a one-hit wonder, but I must admit I was wrong .The guy is hell of a rider!

 

[memyselfandI]

If IG can trim everything in him normally and small bit towards better tt'er, he'll be perfetto.

 

[oldcrank]

Very good result considering the Grennies lost two riders and had no pursuiters in their Vuelta roster to begin with...big contrast to their Giro team which included a couple of the greatest pursuiters ever (and of course TGH has some pursuit/team-pursuit experience himself). I think with a solid team behind him, Richie is a real contender for another GT win.

 

[tobydawq]

Apparently, he is learning English through watching and memorising Spongebob Squarepants episodes...

 

[Bolder]

Very good result considering the Grennies lost two riders and had no pursuiters in their Vuelta roster to begin with...big contrast to their Giro team which included a couple of the greatest pursuiters ever (and of course TGH has some pursuit/team-pursuit experience himself). I think with a solid team behind him, Richie is a real contender for another GT win.

Well, he and Roglic are 1-1 in GTs in which they went head to head for the GC. As mentioned above, give him Ganna and Dennis and a few top climbers and I think he'd compete will in the Tour.

I don't know what to say about SpongeBob.