OYAMA, Japan—Richard Carapaz was six days and 6,000 miles removed from Paris when he found himself surrounded by a familiar pack of cyclists: the cream of the Tour de France peloton.
He hadn’t been able to shake them in the Alps or the Pyrenees and had to settle for third at the world’s most famous bike race. Now here he was at, tearing through the foothills of Mount Fuji, staring down the rivals he knew all too well. The difference this time was that Carapaz pulled off an attack that stuck. After breaking away on the final steep climb of the day, he kept the chasers at bay to win just the second Olympic gold in Ecuadorian history.
Wout Van Aert of Belgium, who had taken the Tour’s 21st Stage last Sunday, claimed the silver medal, edging out newly crowned Tour champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia in a sprint down the finishing straight. The trio made up one of the most decorated podiums in recent Olympic memory, collectively accounting for victories in nearly every major one-day cycling race and two of the three Grand Tours.
But they were only the headliners in the star-studded crowd of riders that went over the final climb together. Practically all of them had traveled to Japan directly from the Tour, with some catching flights mere hours after the race finished on the Champs-Elysées. The setting here, however, couldn’t have been more different.
Way to go RichardCarapazM you are a true Champion. Gracias por darle esta alegría a Ecuador TokyoOlympics
So happy for him ❤️
🇪🇨✊🏼🙌🏼
vamos!!
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