Mount Fuji (Japan) (AFP)

The mountain gave birth to a dragon!

At the foot of Mount Fuji, the Olympic Games offered themselves an imperial podium in road cycling in Japan on Saturday, with Carapaz in gold, Van Aert in silver and Pogacar in bronze.

After a 234 km race in the mountains, as hard as an alpine stage of the Tour de France, the 28-year-old Ecuadorian finished detached with more than a minute ahead of a group of eight strong men, that the Belgian Wout van Aert settled in the sprint, ahead of the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in the photo finish.

"This is the second gold medal in the history of my country at the Olympic Games, and the last dates back to 24 years (Editor's note: 25 years in Atlanta-1996). It is something very special, said Carapaz. It was a very tough race. I didn't have a team like the others, I had to wait for my moment. "

To those who thought that the Tour de France-Olympic Games sequence, with only six days of recovery, would be a disadvantage, the heroes of the day gave a clear answer: Carapaz was third on the Parisian podium, Pogacar was in yellow, and van Aert distinguished himself by winning three stages, a mountain stage in Ventoux, a time trial and the prestigious Champs-Elysées sprint.

David Gaudu was part of this royal group and takes 7th place.

- The man of volcanoes -

Carapaz is, since this Saturday, definitely a man of volcanoes.

In his country, he likes to train at very high altitude on the slopes of the Chiles volcano (4,723 m), for the last 14 unpaved kilometers.

And it was around another volcano that he won on Saturday, Mount Fuji, emblem and highest point of Japan (3,776 m).

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The race settled down as expected in the terrible Mikuni pass: 10 km at 10.6% average with passages at 20%.

From the first strong percentages, Pogacar, already double winner of the Tour at 22, placed an attack, definitely blowing up the peloton.

He first broke away, accompanied by the great 23-year-old American prospect Brandon McNulty, and the Canadian Michael Woods.

But behind him, van Aert, the Pole Michal Kwiatkowski or the Italian Alberto Bettiol led the chase and took him back before the summit.

A group of twelve men fell over on the descent.

It was in the rugged final, which led to the Mount Fuji motor circuit (once used by F1), that Carapaz definitely left its opponents company.

First accompanied by McNulty, then alone, after leaving the American behind in a small bump.

"When I saw that there were two of us in the final with 20 seconds in advance, I knew we were going to fight for the medals (...) but I had doubts until the end because that behind me there were some very strong guys, ”he confessed.

- Japanese audience -

Son of a farmer from the Andean highlands, Carapaz was already a hero in his country for having offered him in 2019 his first very big international victory by winning the Giro d'Italia.

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Cycling "is a sport that hardly exists in Ecuador", said at the time this light template (1.70 m, 62 kg), that his physique and his qualities of climbers placed logically among the favorites on the course of Tokyo.

The first cycling event of the Olympic fortnight has blown a wind of optimism on these Games held hostage by the pandemic: deprived of the opening ceremony and the events in Tokyo, the Japanese public, authorized to come under certain conditions in this region of Japan, had made an appointment by the side of the road on Saturday.

Thousands of people cheered on the riders between the start of Saitama (northeast of Tokyo) and the arrival at the Mount Fuji motor circuit, whose grandstands were partially full.

© 2021 AFP