Richard Carapaz changes team a few hours before the start of the Vuelta

With just a few hours to go until the start of the Vuelta España this Friday, Richard Carapaz has changed teams, announcing his signing for three years from 2023 with Education First.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
19 August 2022 Friday 11:36
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Richard Carapaz changes team a few hours before the start of the Vuelta

With just a few hours to go until the start of the Vuelta España this Friday, Richard Carapaz has changed teams, announcing his signing for three years from 2023 with Education First. In this way, the Ecuadorian, Olympic champion in Tokyo and winner of the Giro d'Italia in 2019, will run his last great race on Spanish soil with the Ineos jersey, his current formation.

In the absence of starting a new journey in the pink team, Carapaz will start in the Dutch town of Utrecht, from where the first stage of the 77th edition of the Spanish race will start, with a 23-kilometre team time trial. The South American rider is one of the favorites to get on the final podium.

“When you conquer one thing, you want more. I am one of those people who wants more. There are still things I haven't achieved. I would like to try to win another great race. A life goal has always been to win the Tour de France. It is something for which I will fight", explained 'the Carchi locomotive' in statements offered by the American team.

Carapaz aims to win the Grande Boucle, but among his goals is also winning the Vuelta, where his best result was second place in 2020, the same as he achieved this year at the Giro. "I know what my potential is and what I can do, what I can achieve, and I am fighting for this dream. Every day I wake up with this dream," he insisted on the French race.

"Carapaz has always been one of my favorite riders and not just because he wins. Carapaz wins with intelligence, opportunity, aggressiveness and determination. He won the Giro because he was very smart and attacked at the right time. He was incredibly brave and willing to ride the risk of doing it, and he succeeded," said Education First CEO Jonathan Vaughters.

The Ecuadorian will join a team where he will meet up with his compatriots Jonathan Caicedo and Alexander Cepeda, with whom he shared his beginnings at a cycling school in Playa Alta. "So it wasn't about riding a bike as a job, it was just something we did. We joined this cycling program that was in my town and we all signed up and we all turned out to be professional cyclists," he recalled.