EF takes a gamble at the Tour casino and walks away with yellow: An in-depth look at project Carapaz
On Monday morning, IDLProCycling.com spoke with EF Education-EasyPost team director Andreas Klier about Richard Carapaz's impressive performance in the opening weekend. With a good result on Monday, Carapaz could even take the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar. You guessed it: that's exactly what happened!
"How do I look back on the opening weekend? Our guys definitely had good legs, that's for sure," Klier began. "It was a tough fight against the wind on day one, followed by a sprint for third place against riders like Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen. Despite that, we tried to attack with Ben (Healy, ed.), and we showed ourselves. Why wouldn't we try? That's why we came to the Tour, after all."
Then came day two, automatically bringing Carapaz into the spotlight as the Ecuadorian rode up to the breakaway with Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard and Pogacar on Sunday afternoon. "Day two went exactly as we wanted. Honestly, I was surprised at how strong Richie was. In a good way, of course. We're talking about Richard Carapaz, an exceptionally good rider. When he's good, he's very good. When he's not, it’s really not good. It’s that simple with him. If a guy of his caliber and talent has the legs, he can do amazing things."
"The past few days went very well for Richard, we can definitely conclude that. Now, it's a question of whether he can maintain that form because we still have a long Tour ahead. Competitively, he's certainly in the mix," the ex-pro said about his South American protégé.
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Carapaz after the finish of stage 3
Successful casino adventure EF Education-EasyPost: Van den Berg with lead-out for Carapaz, who takes yellow
After stage two, Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Carapaz were tied for the yellow jersey. If any of the latter three finished ahead of Pogacar in Turin, the yellow jersey would go to one of them. That strategy was a game in itself, as Pogacar seemed almost eager to be rid of the yellow jersey. At EF, they definitely wanted to possess the yellow jersey, as Klier clarified. "It would simply be brilliant if Richard could get the yellow jersey this way. We're fully aware of what we need to do to make that happen. But let's not forget that it all has to happen in the first Tour sprint, which is usually very hectic," he previewed.
"It’s a bit like walking into a casino, you know?" Klier described it characteristically. "A bit of a gamble. In that context, I can confirm that we prioritized our casino venture over a sprint result with Marijn..." Clear words, which were confirmed by Marijn van den Berg himself beforehand. About six hours later, Carapaz indeed positioned himself, as expected, in the final sprint, finishing in an impressive fourteenth place (coincidentally one place behind Van den Berg). This gave the Olympic champion the yellow jersey, completing Klier's described gambler's mission.
"This is fantastic, a dream for me. With all the respect I have for the Tour de France, this is very emotional. I am going to enjoy this," said an elated Carapaz afterward. "We had the plan to go for yellow, but it was dangerous in the finale." Van den Berg also reacted enthusiastically afterward. "We knew this morning what was needed to get the yellow jersey, so I had to sacrifice my chances," the Dutchman told NOS. "I tried to do a lead-out for Carapaz. A bit unusual, but if it works, it’s great. I first tried to stay behind him and then went early. He was sitting pretty well on my wheel, and then I could bring him forward. Luckily, we had enough spots for yellow. Hopefully, this gives him wings."