Make way for the Ecuadorian Locomotive!
Richard Carapaz (The Ecuadorian locomotive) came from behind and past the GC favourites in Bologna. Carapaz now sits fourth overall, same time as the yellow jersey after the second stage of the Tour de France.
"In the end it was a very hard selection. I was in a selection of riders that could hold on to the finish line, and in the end we got to it. There was a big fight for the GC lead too. At the beginning of the stage I still felt exhausted because of yesterday's stage, but then Pogacar and Vingegaard attacked, I tried to follow. Remco did the majority of the work, and it was very good because we got to those two in the end. I knew that I had a feeling. After Tour de Suisse I couldn't train very well but now to see myself like this is a very big motivation. I have to continue like this because there's a super hard Tour still in front of us."
-Richard Carapaz
"If we're just honest about it, Richie's crash in the Tour de Suisse was a lot worse than a lot of people had know about. He had multiple stitches in his mouth. He wasn't able to eat. He caught a high fever. He's basically trained about five hours in the two weeks before the Tour de France. None of us expected that he would be at this level. We're not going to get carried away by it. We're just going to take this day by day. We're going to let him rest up tomorrow as best he can and not really put any more expectations on him, but it went from a real bad day to a real good day."
-Jonathan Vaughters. CEO EF Education Easypost
"It was really hard for me but I'm really happy. I had a perfect day out in the breakaway. I have to thank Christian for his role in the way he helped me get through to win the stage. He put me in the perfect position and I knew I was going to be able to attack. I wanted to take part in the Tour, that was the original dream. To now win a stage in it, well that's amazing and for the team as well - it just makes me incredible happy."
-Kevin Vauquelin. Along with Romain Bardet's stage 1 win - a French fairytale continues!
“I was happy to get in the break today. It’s a good start and hopefully, I can improve throughout the Tour. On the steep part, I was on the limit, struggling on each lap, but I kept fighting my way back. In the end, it was the attack right after my move that went away, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I gave it my best, and I think it’s good to already hav a top 10 on day two of the Tour de France.”
-Hugo Houle in ninth place.
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