Richard Carapaz could not immediately follow the attack of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) during the second ascent of the San Luca hill. With a delay, Carapaz et Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) ended up entering the duo Pogacar – Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) a few meters from the line. The rider of the EF-Education EasyPost was satisfied with this 2nd stage of the Tour de Franceespecially after his fall in Tour of Switzerland. He is now 4th in the general classification in the same minute as Pogacaryellow jersey.
Video – Pogacar outdistanced all the favorites except Vingegaard
“After the Tour de Suisse, I wasn’t able to train much…”
A reassuring step for Richard Carapaz who feared his fitness after having to abandon the Tour of Switzerland. “In the final it was very difficult. I was in a group of riders who were able to come back before the finish line, and in the end we got there. There was also a big fight for the lead in the general classification. At the beginning of the stage I still felt exhausted from yesterday’s stage (stage 1), but then when Pogacar and Vingegaard attacked I tried to follow. Remco (Evenepoel) did most of the work, and it was very good because we finally managed to catch up with Pogacar and Vingegaard. I knew I felt good. After the Tour de Suisse I couldn’t train much, but now seeing myself like this is a very big motivation. I have to keep going like this because there are still some super tough stages of the Tour ahead of us.”
Jonathan Vaughters: “Richie’s Tour de Suisse crash was much worse than many people imagined”
Jonathan Vaughtersthe CEO of training EF-Education EasyPost was also satisfied with this end of the stage. “It went from what I would call a crappy day in that we missed the breakaway and I was pretty disappointed about it to a really surprising day. If we’re honest about it, Richie’s crash at the Tour de Suisse was a lot worse than a lot of people expected. He had multiple stitches in his mouth. He wasn’t able to eat. He had a high fever. He had basically trained for about five hours in the two weeks leading up to the Tour de France. None of us expected him to be at this level. We’re not going to get carried away by it. We’re just going to take it day by day. We’re going to let him rest up tomorrow as best he can and not really put any more expectations on him, but it went from a really bad day to a really good day.”
