Richard Carapaz: ‘It’s been a peculiar Giro d’Italia but I’m very happy with it’

This article originally appeared on Velo News

VERONA, Italy (VN) - Richard Carapaz managed to claw back seven seconds on Jai Hindley in the race-concluding time trial of the Giro d'Italia, but admitted that the title had already been lost as a consequence of what he described as "a bad day" on the Marmolada Passo Fedaia stage Saturday, when the Ecuadorian lost the race leader's maglia rosa and the best part of 90 seconds to his Australian rival.

Asked what had been the difference between him and Hindley, Carapaz said it all came down to events on the Fedaia on stage 20.

"At the end of yesterday I had a bad day, it really wasn't my day," the Ineos Grenadiers rider said. "That was the little thing that made the difference. The truth is that today in the time trial I was where I had to be and I wasn't the same as yesterday."

Also read: Ineos boss: We didn't know Richard Carapaz was struggling on decisive mountain stage of Giro d'Italia

The 2019 Giro champion stressed, though, that, while he was disappointed not to win, he was pleased with the way he had performed over the last three weeks.

"The truth is that I'm very happy. It was a very nice Giro, very competitive and very hard," he said, adding that he'd learned some good lessons from it.

"There are many things that we have to keep working on and improving. I think it's been a rather peculiar Giro because of the heat and a bit too because of the transfers, but, as I said, I'm quite happy with the way it has gone."

He acknowledged that the crashes suffered by Jonathan Castroviejo and the sickness that forced key mountain lieutenant Richie Porte out of the race last Friday had affected the team, but he refused to blame these setbacks for him losing out to Hindley.

"These happened to many teams, not many finished without losing a man, or even two, and in the end I don't think we could have done any better," he affirmed.

"These things happen. You win and you lose. And the truth is that ultimately it wasn't a disappointment for me. Instead, it's given me the strength to bounce back again at the Vuelta a Espana. I think over the years I've been professional and I've shown once again that I can be high up on GC in the grand tours. So to find myself here in this situation is quite positive, even though I had to settle for second place."

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