Racing

Richard Carapaz ends the Tour Colombia second overall

EF Education-EasyPost attacked right to the finish

February 11, 2024

Rigoberto Urán charged up the finishing shoot in Bogota with Richard Carapaz on his wheel.

Spurred on by a grand-tour sized crowd, all hammering the barriers and waving their yellow, red, and blue flags, Richie launched out of Rigo’s draft in an all-out sprint towards the line and finished second. Carapaz ends the Tour Colombia second overall with the King of the Mountains jersey on his shoulders. Above all, he is proud of the way our team raced this week in Colombia.

“I’m very happy, because we did a great job for the whole stage,” Carapaz said at the finish line. “Piccolo, Esteban, Cepeda, and Rigo, especially in the end, did an enormous job. I’m very happy. We leave with a podium and with a stage. I think that we did a great performance in this Tour Colombia.”

EF Education-EasyPost attacked right to the finish. After Richie’s incredible stage-five win atop the Alto del Vino, the team was determined to go on the offensive again to try to take over the yellow GC leader’s jersey. Carapaz started the day 21-seconds back, but with only three third— and fourth-category climbs on the route from Sopo to the nation’s capital, it was always going to be tough to take the time. Still, we tried. The last hour of racing was a fireworks show, with pink rockets blasting off of the front group again and again. Richard attacked on the descent before the last sprint and took the bonus seconds. Then, he went again, after a huge pull from Alexander Cepeda, through a tunnel of fans on the Alto de Patias. The Colombian national team of the leader Rodrigo Contreras was strong though. Coming into Bogota, the front group was back together. Rigo led out the sprint for Richie.

“I think the team did a super good job,” Urán said afterwards in front of the adoring crowd. “We tried until the very last moment to win the race, but we did not get it in the end. But we are happy.”

Andrea Piccolo did a huge job for the team today.

“We tried everything,” he said. “I controlled the race the whole day and I left everything for the team knowing that Richard could win the race. We tried. In the end, we lost but we also won. I am very proud of my team. Congratulations to Richie and also to the winner Contreras.”

Esteban Chaves was also very proud of the way EF Education-EasyPost rode in his home country.

“We did a really good job today,” he shouted over the roar of the fans in Bogota. “We had five riders and all of us are little climbers, but we could control the race. It took a lot of effort. Everyone is now really tired. But we tried. It was beautiful to race like this together. Hopefully the race will be back next year!”

After an amazing week here, we’re already looking forward to the next Tour Colombia.

Alexander Cepeda

Alexander Cepeda has been riding bikes since he was a child, growing up in the high mountains of Ecuador, where he was clubmates with his now EF Education-EasyPost teammate Richard Carapaz. He got his start racing as a 13-year-old and just three years later won his first race.

The 25-year-old brings a wealth of climbing talent and recent results to the team. He was the best young rider and fourth overall at the Tour of the Alps in 2021. He went on to win the Ecuadorian road race national championship that season. At Le Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc, Alexander won stage two, which featured a summit finish on the Col du Galibier, as well as the general classification win and the points jersey. In 2022, he placed second overall at the Tour of Sicily and also earned the title of best young rider.

Alexander turned professional in 2017 and joined EF Education-EasyPost in August 2022, marking his WorldTour debut. His dedication to his teammates makes him an essential member of our squad.

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Esteban Chaves

Esteban came to cycling through duathlon as a young teenager. His dad registered him for the race and lent him a bike. For Esteban, it was love at first ride. He bought a bike shortly thereafter and hasn’t looked back. Today, the Colombian is one of the strongest riders in the peloton. His racing victories include Il Lombardia, the Giro dell’Emilia, three Giro d’Italia stages, two Vuelta a España stages, and most recently a stage at the 2021 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

While his results are impressive, Esteban has overcome hardships in his career. As a 22-year-old, he had a crash that nearly ended his career before he even signed his first WorldTour contract. Then in 2018, he was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus and chronic sinusitis. Throughout it all, Esteban maintained his warrior spirit and his signature smile.

Riding is about more than racing and achieving results for the Colombian, who is now in his second season with our team. In 2016, he began FUN Chaves, an organization that uses bikes as tools to help children in Colombia realize their dreams. For him, his career as a professional cyclist is proof that dreams do come true and he hopes to inspire others to follow their passions.

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Rigoberto Urán

There is now a Colombian TV show about Rigoberto Urán’s life. It is about more than Olympic medals and grand tour podiums, fashion shoots, and appearances in the celebrity pages of newspapers.

Rigoberto’s dad was killed by a paramilitary group three months after he introduced Rigo to cycling. Rigo was 14. All of a sudden, he had to work to support his mom and his sister. He took over his dad’s job, selling lottery tickets to support his family, while going to school and trying to race. He still won a lot.

At 16, it was too much. Rigo told his cycling team that he would either have to turn pro or quit and go back to selling lottery tickets. Technically, he was too young to become a professional. To get around that fact, the team offered his mother the contract. Three years later, Rigo traveled to Europe for the first time to race for a small Italian team.

He has never looked back. An Olympic silver medal and podium finishes at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France are highlights from his illustrious career. Rigo is still a contender. In 2022, he won stage 17 of the Vuelta, completing his trifecta of stage wins in each of the grand tours, and was a force in the autumn classics.

Rigo continues to inspire his teammates and a whole generation of cyclists with his laid-back, fun-loving approach to the sport.

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Richard Carapaz

Richard Carapaz races with grit and without fear. The Olympic champion and Giro d’Italia winner hails from the high mountains of Ecuador, where he started racing as a 16-year-old kid for his local club. He returns there each winter to help the next generation of children from his hometown of Playa Alta get started in the sport they dream of conquering like him.

Richard has stood on the podium of all three grand tours and won 22 professional races. When Richie wins, he wins with style. He is never afraid to attack and can sense exactly the right moment to go. When he goes—on Richie's day, the best riders in the world can’t hold his wheel.

That is how he won his Olympic gold medal and his Giro d’Italia. That is how he wants to race for us.

After a difficult 2023 season, Richie is ready to attack 2024. Quiet, determined, he is more motivated than ever.

Richard Carapaz rode into the lead of the 2024 Tour de France on stage 3.

He went on to win stage 17.

On stage 19, he raced into the lead of the Tour's King of the Mountains competition.

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