Stage one of the 2023 Tour de France was as brutal as it was beautiful. Neilson Powless is in the King of the Mountains jersey. Richard Carapaz is going home with a small fracture in his left knee. One moment, we were on top of the world. The next, Richie was down on the pavement. We’ll bring his attacking spirit to the rest of this Tour. Heal up campeón.

The Tour de France is harsh.

Richie worked for months to prepare for his favorite race. Now, he is unable to start the second stage. Apart from three stitches in the same knee, he escaped further injury. His disappointment is sure to become determination, as he focuses on his next goals. In the meantime, he will cheer on his teammates, especially Neilson Powless, tomorrow. Today, Neilson realized one of his boyhood dreams.

After the grand depart took us from Bilbao over the green hills of the Basque country to the cliffs and hidden surf spots of the Bay of Biscay, Neilson accelerated through an ocean of flag-waving fans near the summit of El Vivero and launched a potent sprint to earn the points he needed to secure the polka dot climbers’ shirt.

Minutes later, Richie crashed on the descent. He braved the ride to the finish back in Bilbao, but the pain was too much. When he was getting x-rayed, Neilson was feted as the first King of the Mountains of the 2023 Tour.

Today was a day of mixed emotions. Tomorrow we’ll race again. We will miss Richie, but aim to attack the rest of the 2023 Tour like he would.

First, hear some thoughts from some of our riders.

Over the top of that climb, I was so happy that I took it. There was always a chance that he [Georg Zimmermann] would take some points on the next climb but I get to wear polka dots so that’s a pretty amazing feeling. We’d talked about it and we weren’t sure which way the stage was going to go. We weren’t sure if the breakaway was going to take it or if we’d come from the peloton. We gambled and we came from the peloton. When we hit the climb, I had Juanma on the radio telling me that if I took it at the top, I’d be in polka dots so I just gave everything to the top of the climb, did a long sprint and I took it so I’m happy.

I want to thank everybody who has been a big part of this project. In the end, well, I am okay. Thank you for your messages of support. For the team who has always supported me, I will come back stronger.

The fans at the side of the road were incredible. At some point, you couldn’t see the road. You just had to ride at people and the road would somehow form out of nowhere. It was a strange race really. It was so hard on the climbs and in the final and we had a misfortune with Richard. He had a tumble and I stopped with him. It didn’t look good so lots of bad luck today. The upside is the Tour de France is glorious and brutal at the same time.

Crazy, like always. And life is pretty tough. And cycling sometimes is hard and today it’s our turn. Richard went down and he was giving a really good performance. He’s sacrificed a lot. We had a lot of belief in him but it’s life. Bad luck and everything just went down but it’s just the beginning so characteristically we will keep riding, keep fighting. We will do good stuff in the Tour.