Carapaz: I knew Nibali and Roglic were watching one another
"Is he the leader?" Mikel Landa asked as he pulled the tab on a can of Fanta past the finish in Courmayeur. The Basque had just placed fifth on stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia, and his most pressing concern on crossing the line had been to find a Movistar soigneur amid the mass of television crews and team personnel swarming around the finish area. There was no time just yet to start calculating the overall standings.
Landa knew already that Richard Carapaz had claimed stage victory but it was only when he had found a small oasis of calm near a crash barrier that he realised his teammate had also built up enough of a buffer to take hold of the maglia rosa, seven seconds clear of Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma). A microphone was thrust in Landa’s direction and he offered an off-the-peg response: “For us, the important thing is that the team wins, whether it’s with me or someone else.”
Barely a week ago, the Giro seemed to have been reduced to a two-way battle between Roglic and Vincezo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), but three days into the race’s belated entry into the mountains, Movistar have manoeuvred their way into contention.
Landa’s aggression on stages 12 and 13 saw him scrub away some of his early losses, while Carapaz has now picked up almost four minutes in two days. By winning his second stage of this Giro, Carapaz also became the first Ecuadorian to wear the pink jersey. Landa, who came home with the chasers, 1:54 down, now lies in 5th overall, 2:50 behind his teammate.
The Colle San Carlo was the main obstacle in Saturday’s 131km leg from Saint-Vincent, and it was the scene of a number of probing attacks from Nibali and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana). On each occasion, only Roglic, Landa and Carapaz could follow before the pace relented once more and the front group swelled again.
"When we were on the San Carlo, I looked closely at my rivals and I could see they weren’t going especially well," Carapaz said. "I knew Nibali and Roglic were watching each other. I was looking for the right moment to see how they’d respond. I knew the category 3 climb to the finish would suit me. I was looking for the stage win and now I’ve ended up with the pink jersey too."
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