Oct 17 - Former Giro d'Italia winner and Olympic champion Richard Carapaz joined NSN Cycling Team on Friday, after leaving EF Education-EasyPost a year before the end of his contract.

The 33-year-old Ecuadorean, who won the Giro in 2019 and road race gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, signed a three-year deal with NSN, formerly known as Israel–Premier Tech.

"I'm really looking forward to it, and to be honest, this reminds me a lot of when I signed my first professional contract, when I was incredibly excited about being in the WorldTour," Carapaz said in a statement.

"The team has big ambitions to keep growing and already in my conversations with the performance team, it was clear we share the same desire to keep improving and achieve big things together."

Carapaz, renowned for his climbing ability, won two stages at this year's Tour de France to finish eighth overall. REUTERS