Former Giro d'Italia champion Richard Carapaz will switch from Ineos to EF-Easypost for the 2023 season, the American outfit said on Friday. 

The 29-year-old Olympic road race champion from Ecuador is in Utrecht where the Vuelta a Espana starts Friday and is sole leader of Ineos for this tour which will be his last for the team. Carapaz explained the switch, saying he wanted to win the Tour de France. 

"This is a team with a lot of ambition and many things they want to achieve. I'm a piece that can fit into the team really well. I'm motivated and was looking for a team with the same objectives as me," said Carapaz, who was second on the 2022 Giro. 

"I have the focus and want to try to win the Tour de France and I think that's something we can achieve here together."