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Richard Carapaz became the pride of Ecuador on Sunday after becoming the country's first cyclist to win the Giro d'Italia, in a journey that has taken him from riding a bicycle without tyres in his native Andes to seeing off all-comers in the Alps and DolomitFrom a bicycle without tyres: Ecuador's Carapaz conquers Giro d'ItalIa
Richard Carapaz became the pride of Ecuador on Sunday after becoming the country's first cyclist to win the Giro d'Italia, in a journey that has taken him from riding a bicycle without tyres in his native Andes to seeing off all-comers in the Alps and Dolomites of northern Italy. The against-the-odds triumph capped the 26-year-old's incredible rise from a humble background, riding a 'skeleton' bicycle his father found in a junk yard, to the highest level of the sport. «We keep it as a family relic,» Carapaz's 27-year-old sister Cristina told AFP, as she proudly showed off the rusty old blue BMX which sparked the dream. Carapaz, now known as 'The Locomotive', used the makeshift bike to climb the dusty roads around the family's modest house in the village of Playa Alta, high in the mountains of northern Ecuador, near the border with Colombia. Selling milk represented the main source of income for the family, and young Richie worked in the fields. «When I was a teenager. My mother had cancer and for some time I looked after the (three) cows,» he said. Their father Antonio arrived home one day when with the small BMX which had no seat, no brakes or pedals. The bicycle is now kept as... Read more
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