Richard Carapaz made his way through the mixed zone in Santa Rosa de Viterbo wearing an unfamiliar blue jersey and clutching a stuffed tiger. The Tour Colombia doles out more prizes than most and the Ecuadorian had just been feted on the podium as El favorito de la afición – ‘the fans’ favourite’ – for his efforts on stage 2.
If there was a straw poll of the overall contenders at the finish, they might also have voted for the EF Education-EasyPost rider. They certainly had reason to be grateful for his intervention given that a break of dangermen, including eventual stage winner Harold Tejada (Astana-Qazaqstan), had entered the final 20km of Tuesday’s stage clutching a lead of more than two minutes over the peloton.
