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Richard Carapaz discussion thread

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How cool would it be to have a Tour winner from Ecuador...? And for some reason I just love him personally. I also like his riding style.
But no, Richie, it's not possible! Bernal already won the Giro, I said I can't endure more than 1 GT win this year for Ineos!
Well I have a different view. After purging his past with a 2020 TdF podium and showing impressive form already this year I would be happy for Porte to be the beneficiary of good luck this time with the strongest team in the sport. Yeh it’s a long shot but stranger things have happened. :D
 
It's because of itts like today that carapaz doesn't have a chance against the slovenians.
Carapaz came 3rd today and beat strong time trialists like Stefan Küng.

I think you overestimate the Slovenians and under estimate Carapaz today. It remains to be seen if Pogocar's TdF TT was an outlier. Roglic was 5th fastest in the stage 20 TT of the TdF. Of course Carapaz would finish behind the Slovenians but he would not be demolished.
 
Today's ITT can't be compared with the two ITTs in the Tour. But I think Carapaz has improved in the discipline and when in peak form, he can do a good ITT imo. Still we are looking probably at 1:30 - 2 minutes accumulated deficit to Pogi, Rogla, Thomas, Porte in both TT stages.
 
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Hard to judge his performance today imo.

Losing almost a minute to the winner doesn't feel good, but losing 14 seconds to 2nd feels a whole lot better.

I'm not sure what happened with Uran's ride but it's such a colossal outlier I find it hard to judge Richie against.

Tour ITT's aren't going to be this suited to him, but I'd take this as a "solid ride in context", especially given I suspect he probably kept a bit in the tank.
 
I wasn't saying that based on today's ITT. Like I said, it has nothing to do with 30km rolling ITTs at the Tour. But looking at the flat ITT on the first stage and the flat part of last year's Vuelta TT, he looked solid.

He does seem to look better on the flat than climbs in ITTs, it's a little weird. He lost a lot of time of the final climb of the ITT in La Vuelta last year, his time on LPDBF was slow despite saving energy and today he was stronger on the descent.
 
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Really? I thought he was relatively disappointing today - I had expected more.

Tomorrows stage is a great stage to judge him
Without the massive performance by Uran (0.7km/hr faster than 2nd), Carapaz’s ride would look solid.

It’s probably a bad yardstick to use for 2 flat itt stages at the Tour, though. His climbing to take yellow is probably a much better indicator of where his form is, not to mention his pretty solid ride in the stage 1 TT.
 
He does seem to look better on the flat than climbs in ITTs, it's a little weird. He lost a lot of time of the final climb of the ITT in La Vuelta last year, his time on LPDBF was slow despite saving energy and today he was stronger on the descent.
It does seem that way. But it's not that clear either IMO. On LPdBF he just wasn't in peak condition and I think in the Vuelta his pacing was wrong. He went too fast on the flat. He went almost toe to toe with Roglič, that's why he exploded on Mirador de Ezaro. On the other hand in the Giro he won, in the San Marino ITT he went slow in the flat first part, yet (if I'm not mistaken) he had the 2nd best time on the climb to the finish, only behind Roglič.
 
Based on what I've read, Thomas is still the leader with Porte and Hart being locked superdoms.

Carapaz on the other hand, will have a free role in chasing stage victories and occasionally helping the leader on the climbs.

Ineos both want GC and as many stages as possible.

Well that would be a very poor approach by INEOS

No way is Geraint Thomas a good enough climber to win the Tour against the Slovenians

The 2 Richies can out climb him ..and chasing stage victories is not the route for Carapaz ...its a waste
 
Based on what I've read, Thomas is still the leader with Porte and Hart being locked superdoms.

Carapaz on the other hand, will have a free role in chasing stage victories and occasionally helping the leader on the climbs.

Ineos both want GC and as many stages as possible.
I don't know where you've read that. Everywhere I look they are saying Thomas and Carapaz go to the Tour as co-leaders. Even Carapaz confirmed that after winning Tour de Suisse. Having Carapaz as a stage hunter is nonsense and it's not going to happen.
 
Where did you read that?

Even if truth, Ineos are not stupid enough to publish that! LOL.

A recent interview from Cyclingtips. Porte describes Thomas as the de facto leader but I guess things can change.

I know you said after the last stage that you’re under no delusions about what your role is going to be during the Tour itself. But there’s obviously going to be a bunch of people back in Australia that’ll be thinking about whether you could be a chance to go for GC. What would you say to them?

I signed this contract to come back and help G. He helped me to win this; it’s arguably the biggest race of my career that I won. So I owe him and that’s my plan. But at the same time, I guess if we’ve got numbers to play …
 
A recent interview from Cyclingtips. Porte describes Thomas as the de facto leader but I guess things can change.

I know you said after the last stage that you’re under no delusions about what your role is going to be during the Tour itself. But there’s obviously going to be a bunch of people back in Australia that’ll be thinking about whether you could be a chance to go for GC. What would you say to them?

I signed this contract to come back and help G. He helped me to win this; it’s arguably the biggest race of my career that I won. So I owe him and that’s my plan. But at the same time, I guess if we’ve got numbers to play …
Where does this say anything about Carapaz hunting stages or Hart just bring a Dom?
 
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNiiO-pUFWI&ab_channel=INEOSGrenadiers


A great video from Ineos about Richie's pre Tour preparation in his home Ecuador.

Some bits I found most interesting:
  • Ineos sent their physio Marek Sawicki (a guy who was Kwiato's kinda personal physio/soigneur for years now) to take care of Richie's body after hard trainings and to cook a proper rice cakes for him
  • Richie says his most busy weeks of training consisted of 55hrs and 40 000m of climbing (which if true, are a ridiculously high values even for a pro)
  • On every single training ride in Ecuador, Richie is accompanied with a police officer (in a car or on a motorbike) following him and taking care of his safety on the road (Richie was hit by a car in Ecuador in 2015 and as he said, Ecuadorian drivers don't give a sh*t about cyclists' lives or generally about people's lives)
 
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