Richard Carapaz discussion thread

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

That was impressive today. Almost catching Landa there in the end.

You'd think Carapaz would be more in the mold of Purito, Yates and that kind of climber, but he actually seems to get better the harder it gets. He has a great engine and yes, he could win the race overall.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

That was impressive today. Almost catching Landa there in the end.

He's the best climber in the race at the moment.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I get the impression that he's better on hard climbs at altitude than on really steep ones at lower altitude.

 

[SafeBet]

He can win this Giro, especially if Movistar keeps being aggressive with Landa and his other teammates.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Lil Richard always tries when he sees the opportunity. Sometimes he fails as in Poland last year and sometimes he gets his reward.
Top 5? I see Roglic, Nibali, Yates and Lopez are so far better than him. I guess he'll have to fight with the likes of Majka, Mollema and Landa for the 5th spot

I'm beyond words

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Lil Richard always tries when he sees the opportunity. Sometimes he fails as in Poland last year and sometimes he gets his reward.
Top 5? I see Roglic, Nibali, Yates and Lopez are so far better than him. I guess he'll have to fight with the likes of Majka, Mollema and Landa for the 5th spot

I'm beyond words

Well, its not like this was super obvious to anyone really. Carapaz seems to have taken yet another step.

 

[Koronin]

Today he was very impressive. I had not expected that from him. It seems he's developing and has learned from his last Giro.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

Well, its not like this was super obvious to anyone really. Carapaz seems to have taken yet another step.

Maybe the top dogs are a step below those of last year

As they say in other threads, the good thing about Carapaz being that good is that Landa is still second rider in the team

 

[JosephK]

Re:

He can win this Giro, especially if Movistar keeps being aggressive with Landa and his other teammates.

He has really impressed me. He could be the surprise of the Giro (if he isn't, already).

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Well, its not like this was super obvious to anyone really. Carapaz seems to have taken yet another step.

Maybe the top dogs are a step below those of last year

As they say in other threads, the good thing about Carapaz being that good is that Landa is still second rider in the team

Landa just cant catch a break now, can he?

I suspect Carapaz will be one of the absolute strongest if not the strongest tomorrow on Carlo. Now, he won't be able to 'sneak' away like he did today, but maybe he wont have to.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

He can win this Giro, especially if Movistar keeps being aggressive with Landa and his other teammates.

He has really impressed me. He could be the surprise of the Giro (if he isn't, already).

Can you even be the surprise of the Giro two years in a row?

 

[JosephK]

Re: Re:

He can win this Giro, especially if Movistar keeps being aggressive with Landa and his other teammates.

He has really impressed me. He could be the surprise of the Giro (if he isn't, already).

Can you even be the surprise of the Giro two years in a row?

Yes, I realize he placed 4th last year, but he seems to be more of a real threat for the GC this year (is going toe-to-toe with the pre-race GC favorites on super hard stages) . . . or maybe it's just me.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

He can win this Giro, especially if Movistar keeps being aggressive with Landa and his other teammates.

He has really impressed me. He could be the surprise of the Giro (if he isn't, already).

Can you even be the surprise of the Giro two years in a row?

Yes, I realize he placed 4th last year, but he seems to be more of a real threat for the GC this year (is going toe-to-toe with the pre-race GC favorites on super hard stages) . . . or maybe it's just me.

Its not just you, Carapaz is in a legitimate position to contest for the win now. Last year, he was pretty much an afterthought, defended himself really well, but ultimately got to 4th through Pinot and Yates collapsing and him having a great last week in the Western Alps.

 

[jaylew]

Last year it was basically he and MAL ignoring everyone else's attacks while they battled for the white jersey.

 

[ice&fire]

In pink now. What next?

 

[fauniera]

Re:

In pink now. What next?

Stay in pink.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

In pink now. What next?

Winning the Giro and proving even I can make a correct prediction once in a lifetime.

 

[Escarabajo]

Holly smoke, what a ride by Richard.
Benefiting from a rider not so strong in the mountains with a weak team.
The final week is going to be interesting.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Richiiiiiiieeeee!

Absolutely insane, stage win and pink. Now Im going to watch the stage - do I only need to watch from Colle San Carlo onwards?

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Richiiiiiiieeeee!

Absolutely insane, stage win and pink. Now Im going to watch the stage - do I only need to watch from Colle San Carlo onwards?

Yes.

 

[Koronin]

Impressive ride by Carapaz. He's going to need at least 1-2 more of these if he's to get enough time to hold it after the final stage ITT. However, with the way both he and Landa are riding they may be able to pull it off.

Nice ride by Joe Dombrowski today as well.

 

[JosephK]

Re:

Impressive ride by Carapaz. He's going to need at least 1-2 more of these if he's to get enough time to hold it after the final stage ITT. However, with the way both he and Landa are riding they may be able to pull it off.

Nice ride by Joe Dombrowski today as well.

Agreed on these points. I'm wondering if Carapaz will be as good in week 3 as he's been so far. Last year, he had a good 3rd week, but he wasn't wearing pink in week 2. This year, he's been putting in big efforts with stage wins in the first 2 weeks. Any chance of a fade in the final week? That remains to be seen.

 

[pink_jersey]

Re: Re:

Impressive ride by Carapaz. He's going to need at least 1-2 more of these if he's to get enough time to hold it after the final stage ITT. However, with the way both he and Landa are riding they may be able to pull it off.

Nice ride by Joe Dombrowski today as well.

Agreed on these points. I'm wondering if Carapaz will be as good in week 3 as he's been so far. Last year, he had a good 3rd week, but he wasn't wearing pink in week 2. This year, he's been putting in big efforts with stage wins in the first 2 weeks. Any chance of a fade in the final week? That remains to be seen.

1 it's enough. The last ITT will not create big extremely big gaps. 1:15 - 1:30 in front of Roglic and he has this in the bag.
Last year he wasn't very good on Zoncolan but I think this year he can crush it on Mortirolo and after that he just needs to wheelsuck Roglic and attack him in the last km when he's incredibly explosive.

 

[luckyboy]

I think if he can stick with Nibali and not let Yates go on some crazy long move then he will win the Giro. Clearly the strongest climber and I imagine he will only gain time on Roglic in these mountains now.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I think if he can stick with Nibali and not let Yates go on some crazy long move then he will win the Giro. Clearly the strongest climber and I imagine he will only gain time on Roglic in these mountains now.

He probably also have the strongest team in the race. Amador, Carretero and Pedrero are very solid in the mountains and then you have Landa.

Seems like he has peaked perfectly for this race and we know that he is great at high mountain climbing and in the 3rd week as well. Decently big favourite now IMO.