Richard Carapaz Makes History at Giro d'Italia

On Saturday, Richard Carapaz made history at the Giro d'Italia by becoming the first Ecuadorian to win a stage in the three major cycling tours.

Carapaz, from the Movistar team, crossed the finish line alone at the top of Montevergine di Mercogliano to take the victory in the eighth stage. The Ecuadorian, who will turn 25 next month, emerged at the end of the final climb to overtake Koen Bouwman, who had led for most of the day.

"It's a beautiful victory, especially with this finish," said Carapaz. "I knew I didn't have many chances in the sprint, so I attacked with two kilometers to go and it worked out very well. I came with very good legs and it paid off until the end," he added.

Carapaz completed the 209-kilometer (130-mile) stage between Praia a Mare and Montevergine in a time of 5 hours, 11 minutes, and 35 seconds. Italian Davide Formolo led the peloton, finishing second with a seven-second delay. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot came in third.

British rider Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) remains in the overall lead after the second stage of this Giro, which concludes with a mountain ascent.

Yates, winner of the young rider classification in last year's Tour de France, maintained a 16-second margin over defending champion Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb). Colombian rider Esteban Chaves sits in third place, 26 seconds behind his teammate. Carapaz is currently eighth, 1:06 behind the leader.

The ninth stage on Sunday will also finish with an ascent, at the end of a 225-kilometer (140-mile) route between Pesco Sannita and Gran Sasso d'Italia.

SOURCE (AP)

PREVIEW:

With a total time of 26h31m40s, British rider Simon Yates remains the leader in the general standings of the 2018 Giro d'Italia. And today, he will try to stay at the top as the competitors depart from Praia a Mare towards Montevergine. (6:00 am/ESPN 3).

The 8th stage of the Giro d'Italia will be very long. In the first part, they will pass through fast roads and characterized by the presence of tunnels. After Agropoli, the route becomes straight and flat along the coast of Tirrenica until Salerno.

After that, they will cover the last 55 kilometers uphill that lead to the outskirts of Avellino. Just outside the city of Torrette di Mercogliano, the final climb to Montevergine, the finish of the 8th stage of the Giro d'Italia, will begin.

The previous stage was won by Sam Bennett, who executed the sprint perfectly to celebrate in Praia. The Irish cyclist was able to leave behind Elia Viviani, winner of two of the first three stages, and claim his first victory in one of the grand tours, like the Giro d'Italia.

Meanwhile, Simon Yates maintained his lead in the seventh stage and will try to come up with a good strategy for the next day. "If I have the legs, I will try something. I have to separate myself from Dumoulin and the others who are stronger than me in the time trials," he said.