Richard Carapaz will make his debut within the pink jersey of EF Schooling-EasyPost on Sunday when he traces out on the Ecuadorian Championships street race, which takes place in his hometown of Tulcan.
The 29-year-old joined the crew this winter after three seasons with Ineos Grenadiers. Carapaz spent two-and-a-half weeks off the bike after present process a tonsillectomy in mid-December, however he resumed coaching in early January.
“I believe issues are getting again to the place they belong once more, the physique adapting to the bike once more and returning to routine,” Carapaz stated on his return to coaching.
Carapaz shall be joined in Sunday’s street race by EF teammates Jonathan Caicedo and Jefferson Cepeda. Caicedo and Cepeda can even trip Friday’s particular person time trial, although Carapaz is not going to participate within the occasion.
The rest of Carapaz’s 2023 race schedule has but to be outlined in full, although the Olympic champion has confirmed that the Tour de France would be the centrepiece of his season. He final participated within the race in 2021, putting third total.
The organisers of the Trofeo Laigueglia, in the meantime, introduced final month that Carapaz would take part of their race, which takes place on March 1, whereas the Ecuadorian has indicated that the Ardennes Classics could be a goal within the Spring.
“I’m very excited to begin the season on the Nationwide Championships,” Carapaz advised a press convention in Quito final month (opens in new tab). “Now we have an enormous calendar deliberate in Europe, and we’ve an enormous goal deliberate as a crew. We’re dreaming huge.”
The 2019 Giro d’Italia winner got here near repeating the feat in final yr’s race, shedding the maglia rosa to Jai Hindley on the Fedaia on the penultimate day. Carapaz went on to land a hat-trick of mountain levels on the Vuelta a España, the place he additionally gained the king of the mountains classification.
