Richard Carapaz dropped 80 places in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) ranking, according to the weekly update as of October 26.
La Locomotora del Carchi, better positioned from Ecuador, is now 89th in the global cycling ranking. He has accumulated 453.5 points compared to the 1671.5 (9th) he had on October 19.
Carapaz's movement (Ineos Grenadiers team) in the table represents the biggest drop among the top 160 classified riders.
- British Geoghegan Hart, from Ineos, wins the Giro
Road cycling is dominated by Tadej Pogacar (3,970 points), from UAE Team Emirates and the recent Tour de France champion. The Slovenian displaced his compatriot Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who is now second with 3,945 points and was the last favorite to say goodbye to his options in the Tour, in the last stage.
Among the Ecuadorians, the second best positioned is Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers), who climbed 50 positions and is now in 122nd place with 333.33 points. The Sucumbios native won a stage (the twelfth) in the recent Giro d'Italia, from which he subsequently retired after a fall.
#LastMinute | Despite the shortage of teammates, Richard #Carapaz successfully defends the leadership of #LaVuelta in stage 7, this Tuesday ► https://t.co/1SpUVogk0Y pic.twitter.com/Cgr4Hkcbt1
— Scoreboard (@marcadorec) October 27, 2020
The big move comes from Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) who climbed 239 places and is now 208th with 184.33 points. Like Narváez, the rider from Carchi won a stage, the third one, of the 2020 Giro.
Two other Ecuadorians are within the thousand group: Jefferson Cepeda Hernández (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), 324th with 117 points, and Bayron Guamá (Best PC Ecuador), 927th with 30 points.
Why does Carapaz drop 80 places?
Richard Carapaz, champion of the 2019 Giro d'Italia, had been consistently in the top positions of the UCI ranking until October 26.
But the Ecuadorian was absent from this year's Giro (which ended on October 25) and could not fight for his position as defending champion. On the contrary, his teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart, the British champion in Italy last Sunday, climbed 146 places and is now the 15th ranked cyclist worldwide with 1,392 points. That means Carapaz no longer boasts the 1218 points he obtained in the previous season's event.
'I noticed uncertainty and decided to give it my all until the finish line': Richard #Carapaz imposed conditions and wore the red leader's jersey of #LaVuelta a España for the first time, this Sunday in stage 6 ► https://t.co/zZgDziYvtR pic.twitter.com/slfJ24zb6N
— Scoreboard (@marcadorec) October 25, 2020
After registering La Locomotora at the last minute in the Tour, Ineos chose to position him as the leader in the Vuelta a España, which started at the same time as the final stages of the Giro. Carapaz climbed to the top of the Spanish race, in progress to date, in stage 6. (D)