The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, Richard Carapaz, will make his debut with the colors of EF Education-EasyPost this Sunday, February 12, when he participates in the road event of the Ecuadorian Cycling Championship, which takes place in his hometown of Tulcan.

The 29-year-old cyclist joined the team after three seasons with Ineos Grenadiers and his return is expected after having undergone a tonsillitis operation in mid-December and already accumulating a month of training for a very long season.

“I think things are getting back to where they should be, the body adapting to the bike again and getting back to the routine,” Carapaz said after he returned to training.

Carapaz will be joined in the road test on Sunday by his EF Education teammates Jonathan Caicedo and Jefferson Cepeda, who will also run the individual time trial on Saturday, although Carapaz will not participate in that test.

“I am very excited to start the season in the National Championships,” he said about his participation in the Cycling Nationals in Ecuador.

Richard Carapaz confirms that the 2023 Tour de France is his main objective of the year

The rest of Carapaz’s 2023 race calendar has yet to be fully defined, although the Olympic champion has confirmed that the Tour de France will be the centerpiece of his season. He last entered the race in 2021, placing third overall.

“This year my main objective is the Tour de France, I have a team that is supporting me 100% and we have already started working. This objective that we have set ourselves is in accordance with my characteristics. I already know what it is to be on the podium and this year it is important to arrive in the same or better conditions than that year”, Carapaz said about the goal in 2023.

Richard Carapaz has also confirmed that his first race in European territory will be the Tour of the Alpes-Maritimes that will take place next week.

The organizers of the Laigueglia Trophy, for their part, announced last month that Carapaz would participate in his race, which takes place on March 1, while the Ecuadorian has indicated that the Ardennes Classics would be his goal in spring. .

“The first part of the season we targeted Flecha, Amstel and Liège. The classics in the Ardennes are the ones that suit me and in which we are going to try to take advantage of the point of form to be able to show ourselves”.

The 2019 Giro d’Italia winner came close to repeating the feat at last year’s edition, losing the pink jersey to Jai Hindley on the penultimate day. Carapaz achieved a hat-trick of mountain stages in the Vuelta a España, where he also won the king of the mountains classification.

Source: El Comercio y www.noticiclismo.com