Days that set the heart racing but call for coolness of mind are always a firm test of a Giro d’Italia contender's credentials. Winning Grand Tours is, so the truism goes, about the head and the legs. On the evidence of the harsh Mortirolo on Tuesday afternoon, Richard Carapaz (Movistar) appears to have both qualities in abundance.
The Ecuadorian’s second day in the maglia rosa proved as auspicious as his first. Once again, he resisted an offensive from Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), this time on the Mortirolo, and finished alongside the Italian in Ponte di Legno, 1:41 down on stage winner Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo). For the fourth consecutive stage, meanwhile, he made hefty gains on Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), the man favoured in Sunday’s concluding time trial, coming in 1:22 ahead of the Slovenian.
The road to Verona is still an arduous one, but Carapaz further improved his chances of standing atop the podium in the Arena with a display of unimpeachable calm on one of the most frenzied days of this Giro to date.
Carapaz’s overall lead is 1:47 over Nibali, while Roglic now drops to third, 2:09 behind. His teammate Mikal Landa, who came home alongside the maglia rosa and Nibali in 7th on the stage, moves up to 4th place overall, 3:15 down.
"Thinking ahead to the time trial in Verona, we gained some important time against Roglic," Carapaz said after taking a seat in the sports hall that hosted the press room in Ponte di Legno.
"It was hard for everyone on the Mortirolo. Roglic had a difficult moment, but we saw that Nibali is strong in the legs. We worked together well on the valley afterwards to gain more time on Roglic and the others, but there are still a lot of kilometres and mountains to go."
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