“It was one of the toughest tests I have had in my career”acknowledged the Colombian cyclist Robinson Chalapud, new monarch of the Cycling Tour of Ecuadorwhich after eight “very disputed stages” closed its issue 39in Quito.
Chalapud, who led the Ecuadorian continental team Banco Guayaquil-Ecuador, He was the most regular, the leader of the race in six days, the most solid on flat terrain and on ascents pronounced from what was “the toughest edition” of the national tour as recognized by the organization of the test.
Edition 39 of the Cycling Tour of Ecuador will be “the toughest” in history
The “objective” of the team was achieved, “for which we worked from the first day to the end, and we did it,” said the 38-year-old runner. “The team did their job very well, it is because of them that this is achieved,” he added.
With demanding layouts, the batch suffered physical wear and tear. They were eight stages, two on the flat and six on high groundwith a total run of 1,236 kilometers and a positive drop of 20,380 meters.
“Has been one of the toughest races I’ve ever done because of the unevenness of the mountainevery day with more than four or five hours of travel and the journey gets harder and harder, but we were able to respond with the help of the team. There are no easy races, but the Tour of Ecuador has been extremely complicated due to the characteristics of its mountain stages”, commented the champion of the Ecuadorian tour.
The title in Ecuador adds to the Qinghai Lake Tour (China) and the National Independence Tour in the Dominican Republic (2019), achievements achieved with Team Medellín-EPM, from which he left this season to sign for the banking team. Among other performances tests in Europe with Colombian teams stand outas the sixth place reached in the Giro d’Italia 2013, in the mountains classification.
“We are veterans in cyclingthat’s why I think the The experience acquired in Colombia and Europe has been fundamental to get this title. This race has been very difficult and we worked very well on it precisely because of the experience we have”, he pointed out.
For the ipialeño, “the key” of the race was on the third dayin the fraction that joined Puerto Quito and Calacalí, the first brush with the mountains, won by Chalapud, with which he assumed a leadership that kept him until the eighth and final stage.
“That day we were able to attack and have a good advantage, then we played with those differences. There were very strong rivals, but we were able to control them, day by day we worked to keep ourselves in the leadThat’s why I say that the victory belongs to the team, not just mine. Personally it is a reward for the sacrifice of training and being away from the family, but always looking for dreams, as well as winning a race of as much level as the Tour of Ecuador”, he expressed.
Without much activity with Medellín-EPM last season, Chalapud arrived this 2022 for the birth of the Banco Guayaquil-Ecuador teamsecond national continental squad.
“Arriving here was a revival of my careerI found a lot of support in this team, we have worked very well. C.With work, revenues have been given to the team and just as I am happy with what has been done, they will also be happy with me”, he indicated.
With the Tour of Ecuador the season closes, “one of the best of my career, always in combativeness, winning stages and now with this title that is important for me and for the team”, he concluded. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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