Paris (AFP)
Ineos coup on the transfer market: the winner of the Tour of Italy, Richard Carapaz, at the end of the contract at Movistar, has committed for three seasons with the British formation, from 2020, announced Monday l Dave Brailsford's team.
With the 26-year-old Ecuadorian, victorious over the Giro in the spring, the Ineos armada picks up a fourth-time winner in his collection of leaders already counting Christopher Froome (4 Tours de France, 1 Giro and 2 Vuelta), Geraint Thomas (Tour de France 2018) and another South American, the young Colombian Egan Bernal (22), crowned on the roads of France in July.
"I think this is an excellent opportunity for me to continue my development and my progress as a rider, working with a team that continues to progress, year after year", rejoices on the site of his future team Richard Carapaz , the first Ecuadorian to win a big round by surprising favorites Nibali and Roglic in the last Giro.
His signature at Ineos had been rustling for many weeks. "We have long admired his racing skills and we have been following his progress closely for a number of years, as we have always considered him a potential member of our team," said the boss of the British team Dave Brailsford.
"He is a fantastic climber," says DB +, "but he also has great versatility, as he showed at the Giro this year, he is still relatively young and I do not doubt that he can still progress." improve with Team Ineos. "
It remains to be seen how the roles will be distributed next year: the boss of the ex-Team Sky now has four leaders, the calendar contains only three major rounds.
© 2019 AFP