Richard Carapaz has described his surprise victory at the 2019 Giro d’Italia as the “biggest moment of my sporting life”. Holding a comfortable lead heading into the 21st and final stage, Carapaz managed to safely negotiate the individual time trial around Verona to finish the stage in 21st place, some 40 seconds behind Chad Haga.
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That performance was enough to see the 26-year-old win the 102nd edition of the prestigious event and become the first Ecuadorian to triumph in the Giro d’Italia. Speaking moments after the stage finish, Movistar rider Carapaz said: “This is the biggest moment of my sporting life. In this final time trial, I just suffered from start to finish until I reached the arena of Verona.
It’s fabulous to win the Giro d’Italia.” Sunweb’s Haga ended up taking the final stage and he was delighted to end his Giro campaign on a high note. He said: “This is my first World Tour win but I started this morning believing strongly that I could win. I saved my legs these past few days. Watching Roglic and Nibali on TV, I had to convince myself that they were tired. “It’s a huge emotion. I’m speechless.”
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