Reviewing the history of the only two Latinos to have won the Giro d’Italia

Nairo Quintana from Colombia and Richard Carapaz from Ecuador are the only Latinos to win the Giro d'Italia in their history. Both accomplished this feat in the last decade; Quintana was champion in 2014 and Carapaz in 2019.

How did it go these times?

Quintana, the first to raise Italian glory

Nairo's victory in the 2014 Giro was a historic moment for Colombia. Nairo not only took the general with a time of 88h 14'32 ", but he also led the youth classification and was third in the mountain classification.

The Colombian on this occasion dominated two stages, 16 and 19 . The first, between Ponte di Legno – Val Martello (Martelltal) was a 139 km mountain stage. The second, between Bassano del Grappa and Cima Grappa, was a 26.8 km individual time trial stage.

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Additionally, the second place that his compatriot Rigoberto Urán got made this a memorable Giro for the coffee country.

It was so important that in the departments of Boyacá and Antioquia, from where Nairo and Urán are original, giant screens were installed in parks and squares to broadcast the event. The then president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, went to the municipality of Cómbita (Boyacá) to celebrate the achievement with the cyclist, wearing his team's pink shirt.

"Nairo is an example of a person who surpasses himself, who manages to climb the highest steps, manages to conquer the European Alps and give such a triumph to all of Colombia" said the then president.

Richard Carapaz, the pride of Ecuador

Another member of the Movistar Team, Richard Carapaz, La Locomotora del Carchi , became Ecuador's hero by winning the Giro in 2019. Carapaz finished in 90h 01'47 ", followed by Italian Vincenzo Nibali and Spanish Primož Roglič.

The Ecuadorian won 2 stages on his way to victory: 4 and 14. The first was a flat stage that spanned 235 km from Orbetello to Frascati. The second was a 131km mountain stage from Saint-Vincent to Courmayeur.

In this race, Carapaz also finished fifth in the points classification and fourth in the mountain.