Richard Carapaz became Ecuador’s first Grand Tour champion as he won the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, while Chad Haga was fastest on the final stage’s individual time trial.
The Movistar rider keeled over his handlebars with emotion inside the Arena di Verona after the 17-kilometer time trial. Carapaz has worn the leader’s pink jersey since winning the grueling 14th stage.
”This is the biggest moment of my sporting life,” Carapaz said. ”In this final time trial I just suffered from start to finish until I reached the arena of Verona. It’s fabulous to win the Giro d’Italia.”
The Ecuadorian finished the three-week race one minute, five seconds ahead of home favorite Vincenzo Nibali and 2:30 ahead of Primoz Roglic, who leapfrogged Mikel Landa into third spot.
”I don’t have any regrets, we all had a good Giro d’Italia, which was very hard-fought,” Nibali said. ”I had great rivals, Carapaz showed he is strong and that he deserved it … Carapaz didn’t steal anything, he was really strong.”
Both Carapaz and Nibali took their children onto the podium with them as they collected their trophies.
Carapaz’s parents had also flown over from Ecuador and revealed it was the first time they had been on a plane.
Haga had told his wife to stay at home.
”Maybe that was a mistake,” the Team Sunweb cyclist said as he smiled through tears of joy in a post-race interview. ”This is for everyone who believed in me and supported me and sacrificed for me. I gave everything today and to finally win … it’s very special.”
Haga had thought about quitting cycling after he and five other teammates were hospitalized after being hit by a car while they were training in Calpe, Spain. The incident happened in January 2016.
It was Haga’s first stage victory in a Grand Tour. He was four seconds faster than Victor Campenaerts and six faster than Thomas De Gendt.
Giro d’Italia 2019 – stage 21 results (Verona ITT):
| 1 | Chad Haga (Team Sunweb) | 22:07 |
| 2 | Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) | +04” |
| 3 | Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) | +06” |
| 4 | Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) | +09” |
| 5 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Groupama-FDJ) | +11” |
| 6 | Josef Cerny (CCC) | ,, |
| 7 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +17” |
| 8 | Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | +20” |
| 9 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +23” |
| 10 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +26” |
| 11 | Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott) | +27” |
| 12 | Tom Bohli (UAE Team Emirates) | +34” |
| 13 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +36” |
| 14 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +37” |
| 15 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +40” |
| 16 | Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) | +42” |
| 17 | Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +44” |
| 18 | Jack Bauer (Mitchelton-Scott) | +48” |
| 19 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | +53” |
| 20 | Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) | +57” |
Giro d’Italia 2019 – final general classification:
| 1 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | 90:01:47 |
| 2 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +01’05” |
| 3 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +02’30” |
| 4 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | +02’38” |
| 5 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +05’43” |
| 6 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +06’56” |
| 7 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +07’26” |
| 8 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +07’49” |
| 9 | Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) | +08’56” |
| 10 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +12’14” |
| 11 | Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) | +16’36” |
| 12 | Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First) | +20’12” |
| 13 | Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) | +21’59” |
| 14 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +22’38” |
| 15 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 16 | Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) | +27’19” |
| 17 | Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) | +27’46” |
| 18 | Tanel Kangert (EF Education First) | +30’11” |
| 19 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +33’40” |
| 20 | Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) | +34’52” |
