Richard Carapaz takes Pink Jersey after 14th stage victory in Giro d'Italia
May 25 2019 11:19 pm CET
Photo of Richard Carapaz in his home town - by Marcelo Hernández
Movistar's Richard Carapaz has taken his second victory in the 2019 edition of the Giro d'Italia. The Ecuadorian launched an attack on the penultimate climb and held the advantage until the finish line, taking a win that also gave him the Pink Jersey.
The race continued in the mountains with a 131-kilometre stage over a route that featured two three-category climbs, two of the first category and a finish on a cat-3 ascent. The escape of the day was formed just fifty kilometres into the stage and included Andrey Amador (Movistar), Mattia Cattaneo, Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), Hugh Carthy (EF Education First), Lucas Hamilton, Christopher Juul Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott), Ivan Sosa (Ineos) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo).
The second first category climb of the day took its toll and left the front group with only three men: Sosa, Ciccone and Cattaneo, while in the pack the leader of the overall classification Jan Polanc (UAE-Team Emirates) also suffered at the back.
With 32 kilometres to go, Vincenzo Nibali attacked and was followed by the favourites and managed to slim down the peloton, dropping riders like Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo).
At the front, Sosa and Cattaneo couldn't keep up with Ciccone's rhythm and left the Italian riding by himself. While the favourites were catching the Colombian rider of Ineos, Nibali increased the speed again and only Roglic, Andrey Amador, Mikel Landa, Rafal Majka and Lopez stayed at his wheel.
Ciccone was reeled in by the favourites with 28 kilometres to go and a kilometre later, Carapaz attacked and behind Nibali, Lopez and Roglic took turns to hunt him down. The Ecuadorian was the first to start the last descent of the day while Nibali attacked from the favourites at the last moment of the climb to tackle the descent in the first position.
At the start of the last ascent of the day, Yates, Adam Sivakov, Damiano Caruso and Joe Dombrowski returned to the favourites' group while Carapaz' advantage kept growing. The first rider to attack on the climb was Sivakov but as he was reeled back in by the others, Yates launched an attack and created a good gap with the rest.
Carapaz crossed the finish line on his own, taking his second victory in this edition of the race and the third Giro stage win of his career. The Ecuadorian also took the lead of the overall classification and got the Pink Jersey.
Yates crossed the finish line one minute and 32 seconds behind the rider of Movistar and the rest of the favourites at one minute and 54 seconds.
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