Richard Carapaz, Yellow Jersey after his 14th place in the 3rd stage of the Tour de France: “This Yellow Jersey means a lot. I worked hard to get here. In recent years, I have spent so much time away from my family, I make all these efforts for them. This jersey is a reward for all these efforts and sacrifices. There are very few of us who manage to reach this level in Ecuador, this result is important to develop this sport in our country. Tomorrow (mardi)we know that it will be a very tough stage but we will give everything to defend this jersey.
“We knew it was a dangerous final with bends at the finish but the team did a huge job to get me through in the best conditions.”
After the Tour de Suisse, I was in the condition I wanted to be. I had to stop a bit to get back into shape. You always have a lot of doubts when you arrive at the Tour de France, in any case, but I kept in mind that I had prepared very well for the Tour. It got complicated at the Tour de Suisse but in the last few days it was much better and above all I now have this yellow jersey which gives me a lot of confidence. Now, I’m going to take the race day by day, no matter what happens.
The plan today (Monday) It was good to go and get the yellow jersey. We knew it was a dangerous final with bends at the finish but the team did a huge job to take me in the best conditions. Alberto Bettiol in particular did a big relay 2 or 3 km from the finish and then Marijn Van den Berg stayed with me until the end to help me.
