La notizia era nell'aria, da oggi è ufficiale. Richard Carapaz nel 2020 vestirà la maglia del Team Ineos. Il vincitore del Giro d'Italia ha sottoscritto con la formazione britannica un contratto triennale. 

«Sono davvero entusiasta di unirmi a questa squadra, ogni anno sempre più forte. Per me è una grande occasione per continuare il mio percorso di crescita. Conosco già bene alcuni dei miei futuri compagni e non vedo l'ora di iniziare a lavorare insieme. Insieme potremo conquistare grandi traguardi» ha commentato il 26enne corridore dell'Ecuador.

Nel comunicato del team, Dave Brailsford dà il benvenuto al primo acquisto del 2020 dicendo: «Ammiriamo da tempo il suo talento ed è anni che seguiamo da vicino la sua crescita. Oltre ad essere un fantastico scalatore, è un atleta davvero versatile come ha dimostrato al Giro. Essendo ancora giovane sono certo abbia ulteriori margini di crescita».

English version

Richard Carapaz will join Team INEOS from the start of the 2020 season.

The reigning Giro d’Italia champion has agreed a three-year deal and will add to an increasingly strong contingent of young international talent on the team. In winning the Giro earlier this year, the 26-year-old Ecuadorian became the first rider from his country to win a Grand Tour.
 
Carapaz said: “I am very excited about joining the team. I feel this is a great opportunity for me to continue my development and growth as a rider, working with a team that continues to go from strength-to-strength, year after year. “I already know a lot of the riders on the team and I am really looking forward to working everyone at Team INEOS from next season. “I believe I will fit into this group well and race to my full potential over the coming years. I want to achieve some great triumphs for Team INEOS.”
 
As well as his Giro d’Italia success, Carapaz – who becomes Team INEOS’ first signing of 2020 – also has three Giro stage victories to his name, and is a two-time winner of the Vuelta Asturias stage race (2018 & 2019).
 
Team INEOS Team Principal, Sir Dave Brailsford, welcomed the news of Carapaz’s arrival, commenting: “We are very pleased to have signed Richard from the start of the 2020 season. We have been long time admirers of his talents as a bike rider and have followed his development closely over a number of years, as we have always marked him out as a potential member of our Team. “He is obviously a fantastic climber but also has great versatility as he showed at the Giro earlier this year. He is still relatively young and I have no doubt he can develop and improve even further at Team INEOS.”