Olympic Games: Carapaz in gold, royal cycling podium in Tokyo

Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz won road cycling gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, beating Belgian Wout van Aert and Slovenian Tadej Pogacar after a mountainous 234 km race.

The former Giro winner, third in the Tour de France less than a week ago, crossed the finish line on his own after breaking away in the final of a group of 12 riders.

Van Aert took the silver medal just ahead of Pogacar in the sprint in the chasing group.

To discover

• The Olympic medal table

• LIVE - Watch the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

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The Olympic medal table

This royal podium, with three of the best riders in the world, crowns a race of strong men that looked a lot like a mountain stage of the Tour de France.

Deprived of the opening ceremony and the events in Tokyo, the Japanese public, authorized to come under certain conditions in this region of Japan, had made an appointment on the side of the road on Saturday.

Thousands of people cheered on the riders on the 234 km between Saitama (northeast of Tokyo) and the finish on the Mount Fuji motor circuit, whose grandstands were almost full.

The race settled down as expected in the terrible Mikuni pass: 10 km at 10.6% average with passages at 20%.

From the first strong percentages, Pogacar, 22, placed an attack, causing the peloton to explode definitively.

He first broke away, accompanied by the great 23-year-old American prospect Brandon McNulty, and the Canadian Michael Woods.

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The program of the day in Tokyo

But the trio were then taken over by a group of seven men, who climbed the summit together.

In the rough final, which led to the Mount Fuji racing circuit (once used by F1), Carapaz pulled out of the small pack with McNulty.

Then he placed a decisive attack that left the American in place.

Behind, his pursuers procrastinated, leaving Wout van Aert to lead the pursuit alone.

He crossed the line more than a minute early.

Son of a farmer from the Andean highlands, Carapaz offered in 2019 the first very big international victory to his country, Ecuador, by winning the Giro d'Italia.

Cycling "is a sport that hardly exists in my country", said at the time this lightweight (1.70 m, 62 kg), that his physique and his climbing qualities logically placed among the favorites of the Games.