When I realised I wouldn’t go to the Giro, it was a complicated situation for me. When I came out of the operation, I didn’t ride my bike for three weeks and I didn’t know if my preparation for the Tour was complete.
But working with the team I got a lot of help, not only physically but mentally and morally, and they helped me tremendously. When I knew I was coming to the Tour, we knew the first week would be hard, and I lost some time when I had to. I wanted to be 100% in this last week.
The third week is my favourite and we’ve ridden it in a spectacular way, with two stages and the polka dot jersey. We’ve achieved the goal we had when we started in Barcelona.We had four minutes (lead to the GC group) but we had to stay clam. I knew I had the legs to win. Coming into the last climb I knew I had to do a half-an-hour effort and to pace myself to achieve the victory. Sepp attacked me at one point. I was six or seven seconds behind but I was always close to him.
On the Alpe d’Huez I suffered so much. Even though I knew the route until the last metre, I suffered so, so much, but it was worth it to win this stage. I think we have deserved what has happened to us. The goal was to win the mountains jerseys - that was our mission - and we did it.”
-Richard Carapaz
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