Carlos Rodríguez leads Romandía in the victory of Carapaz

“I haven’t had good feelings. “I have suffered a lot,” he said. Juan Ayuso at the conclusion of the Tour de Romandie time trial, in which he rose to first place overall. A warning, an omen… The fact is that the one from Jávea was not lying. His legs weren’t the best. And neither were they in the queen stage of the Swiss round, in which the Spaniard lost his status as leader after suffering a major crisis in the last kilometers. In Leysin’s high finale, the winner was Richard Carapaz, who managed to clear up ghosts after several seasons away from the best version of him. The Ecuadorian signed his third victory of the course, something he had not achieved since the 2022 season, and in the process broke his drought in top-level events: He had not raised his arms in the World Tour since the 20th stage of La Vuelta 2022.

However, beyond the surprising emergence of the German Florian Lipowitz, who disputed the victory until the last meter, there was another runner who shone with his own light. His name, Carlos Rodríguez. The one from Almuñécar (23 years old) reached the finish line third, ten seconds behind Carapaz and Lipowitz, which elevated him to first place overall, a circumstance that he savored for the first time in his professional career.

Despite his good performance, good old Carlos had to sweat a lot to put on the yellow jersey. The menu consisted of 151 km and five categorized ports, although it would not be until the last one, Leysin, where everything would be decided: 13.8 km at 6% average. The Frenchman Clément Berthet arrived there in the lead, after the escape of a sextet of which Raúl García Pierna was a part ended. The one from AG2R He even dreamed of victory, the result of a fantastic pace of ascent, but with 5 km to go he said enough was enough. The victory remained in the hands of the ‘roosters’.

Ineos set the pace with intensity. A warning of what was to come. It was precisely Egan Bernal who lit the fireworks with a great change of pace that took down quite a few favorites. Hindley, Van Wilder and Ayuso, in this order, fell like ripe fruit. Less than 3 km away, the figure of Lipowitz, the big surprise of the day. The young Bora talent (23 years old), who until now had only shown some potential in second-tier races, took action with great courage. Only Carapaz and Rodríguez were able to follow him. Seconds later, having caught my breath, Carapaz counterattacked and although his pace went from more to less, He opened enough space to achieve victory.

Only one stage separates Carlos from glory. The task, although the outcome could end in a sprint on the Vernier urban circuit, will not be easy, since he will have to control, mainly, the Bora duo: Vlasov is 7 seconds away and Lipowitz is 9″ away. The group work that the Ineos team can carry out will be essential. Another day to dream.

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