The Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz made history again by confirming in one of the great competitions on the planet that he is one of the most competitive cyclists today. The Carchense also confirmed that in the country he is one of the most popular athletes. As a member of the Ineos Grenadiers team, he reached the subtitle of the Giro d’Italia after the twenty-first and final stage, a 17.4-kilometre individual time trial, in which the Italian Matteo Sobrero (BikeExchange) won.
The Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020, and Giro monarch in 2019, also stood out in another big one in September. An amount of 49,800 euros (50,482 dollars) was won by Carapaz in prizes for the Vuelta a España 2022, a competition in which the Ecuadorian was established as king of the mountainwon three stages and finished fourteenth in the general classification.
The Carchense cyclist prevailed in sections numbers 12, 14 and 20, and accumulated 33,000 euros in prizes. The 29-year-old Ecuadorian became the American cyclist who won the most stages in the same edition of La Vuelta. It was Carapaz’s last great race with the Ineos team.
Next season the tricolor will compete for Education First, from the United States. The newspaper Sport, from Barcelona, analyzed that “with the arrival of a man like Richard Carapaz, they went from being a ‘quarrelsome’ team to being a team focused on the generals. Changing the role is not an easy task”.
Ecuador, in Qatar 2022
On March 29, with Lionel Messi, Argentina tied 1-1 with Ecuador in Guayaquil, for the last qualifying date for the 2022 World Cup, to which both teams stamped their passports in advance. With the tie, the Tricolor fell to fourth place with 26 points, behind leaders Brazil (45), Argentina (39) and Uruguay (28). The four teams entered the contest directly.
Julián Álvarez put the future world champions to win 1-0 (24 minutes) and Enner Valencia equalized with a penalty kick, at 90+3. That was the attacker’s last goal with the Tricolor shirt, until the start of the World Cup. On November 20, the 33-year-old from Esmeralda scored a double at the opening of the World Cup to enter the history of the FIFA tournament: a host country had never lost in its presentation match, until Enner scored and Qatar fell 2-0 to Ecuador.
Then, in the second match of group A, the National Team had an outstanding performance – unanimously praised by the international press – against the Netherlands, but could not win and ended 1-1. The national goal was by Enner, who became Ecuador’s greatest scorer in the World Cups (six goals, three in Qatar and before another three in Brazil 2014).
In a duel for qualifying for the round of 16, it was enough to draw with Senegal, but coach Gustavo Alfaro “went out to speculate with the score and the timer,” he said. The countryand his conservative scheme made the game easier for the Africans, who won 2-1 and advanced to the round.
Weightlifting, sure success
Ecuadorian weightlifter Bella Paredes became junior world champion by winning the 76 kg category at the IWF Junior World Championships in Heraklion, Greece. Twelve athletes competed, in May, for the medals and Paredes was the best in the snatch, clean and jerk and the sum of the total weight, which meant a triple gold medal in her division to confirm that Ecuador is a power in weightlifting.
The Ecuadorian Angie Palacios won on December 13 silver in the clean and jerk modality by lifting 116 kilos in the Weightlifting World Championship that took place in Bogotá, a day in which the Romanian Loredana Toma set a new world record in the snatch with 119 kilos.
Palacios, in addition, was bronze in the Olympic total with 252 kilos, one less than the Chinese Tiantian Zeng who won silver, while the gold went to the Romanian Toma with 256 kilos in the 71 kilogram division. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
