Ahead of the Giro d'Italia, whispers emerged from EF Education-EasyPost that their leader, Richard Carapaz, was in the form of his life. It was the sort of talk that you could easily ignore - why wouldn't they think their own man was good? But the American team were serious; they knew that this time round, Carapaz really did mean business.
The Ecuadorian demonstrated signs of that form during his stage 11 victory at Castelnovo ne'Monti, but it was on the slopes of the San Valentino climb on Tuesday that the former Olympic champion began to loom over Isaac del Toro's shoulder, the previously unshakeable young Mexican.
