Shirley Wegelius, sports director at EF Education-Easy Post, was as surprised as anyone when Richard Calapaz took the yellow jersey on the crash-prone final stage of the Tour de France's third stage.

Carapas, from Ecuador, led the race on the countback stage, finishing more than 24 places better than his closest rivals in the GC standings: Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease-a-Bike), Remco Evenpole (Soudal Quickstep).

"I did the math last night. I looked at the results. If the times are the same, the countback is based on the stage standings," Wegelius told NBC Sports.

"I knew it was risky. It's the first big sprint of the Tour, so we knew it was risky. They did very well.

EF Education-Easy Post kept Calapaz in a good position on the run-in to Turin and focused on safely leading the field. With 2.2 km to go, Kalapas, along with about 60 other riders, avoided a crash that separated them from the pack.

He finished the day in 14th place, with Pogachar in 38th, Evenpoel in 40th, and Vingegaard in 68th, with Calapaz taking the yellow jersey. Those involved in or behind the crash were awarded the same time as stage winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarché Wanty).

"It was scary, but we had a plan. At first, we were thinking about sitting down and losing time so we could get into the breakaway group a few days later," Calapaz's teammate Nielson Paules said in a post-race interview.

"In the end we had a bigger goal, so we went back to the front to clean Richie's wheels and push the wind for him if we had to. With 3K to go, there were still four guys around him, so it was a perfect situation for us."

Carapas, an Olympic road champion and Giro d'Italia winner, entered the Tour de France with a question mark over his form. He recently recovered from an injury sustained in a crash at the Tour de Suisse and was also forced to rest due to illness in the days leading up to the race.

"Richie's condition is astonishing. He was basically off the bike for 10 days leading up to the Tour. He surprised us on stage one, shocked us on stage two, and now he's in yellow. That's cycling.

Calapaz, Pogachar, Evenpole, and Vingegård are all tied on GC after stage 3, with Primoš Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) 21 seconds back as the race heads into stage 4 from Pinheiro to Valloire. This 139km stage includes the Sestriere and Galibier climbs.

"Ride with your feet on the ground. Bologna and the Alps are two different things. Enjoy tonight, tomorrow is fine."

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