Perseverance at its very best

Richard Carapaz with the Giro d'Italia trophy and the Ecuadorian flag.

This is a story of perseverance, rags-to-riches type of dream that every young child dreams of. Richard Carapaz became the pride of Ecuador on Sunday when he won the classic Giro d’Italia, a 3-week grueling bicycle race of 21 stages that takes them from incredibly close sprints to harsh climbs up the Alps and Dolomites with spectacular snow-capped mountains along the route. The story starts from the little poor boy riding a bicycle without tires in his native Andes to seeing 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. 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, looking after three cows while his mother Ana was facing cancer. Then his father Antonio arrived home one day with the small BMX which had no seat, no brakes or pedals. The bicycle is now kept as a prized possession. Last year, Carapaz won the white jersey in the Giro d’Italia, won by the young rider of the race, but this year he got the pink jersey around the 14th stage and kept it till the end, as the overall winner. Carapaz raced on local teams in Ecuador before his talent captured the attention of talent scouts. Various Colombian riders have become quite successful in recent years, but this is the first Ecuadorian to triumph. His parents, his wife and his two young children were present on Sunday at Verona, for the final stage and coronation of the champion, Richard Carapaz. It’s a great story of perseverance and sheer determination.