Due to illness, Richard Carapaz will not be able to defend his King of the Mountains jersey win and go for stage victories at the Tour de France, as he stated he wanted to do following his Giro d’Italia podium finish.
According to his team, EF Education-EasyPost, the 32-year-old began experiencing abdominal pain and a high fever while training at home in Ecuador. He was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal infection after undergoing several rounds of tests, scans and imaging. He was then started on antibiotics and medication to manage the pain and fever.
Both the EF Education and Ecuador medical teams advised against long-haul travel and competition at this time, forcing Caparaz out of the Tour.
“We’re all gutted for Richard,” EF Pro Cycling founder and CEO Jonathan Vaughters said in a team release.
“He came out of the Giro with amazing form and was setting career-high power numbers in training. He sacrificed a lot to get to that level, so the timing really couldn’t be worse. We know how much the Tour means to him, so to lose him this close to the race is a real blow. He’s a champion in every sense, and knowing him, I have no doubt this setback will only motivate him to come back stronger.”
Carapaz took to social media to share his "great sadness" at missing the Tour.
"Not the best news, but health always comes first. Thank you all for your messages and support," he added before wishing good luck to his team.
Carapaz had a difficult year in 2023 in the Tour when he abandoned on stage 1 with a crash. Though he remained uneven on the GC front last year, he took home the King of the Mountain classification and climbed to stage 17 solo victory to finally be able to complete the Grand Tour stage win set.
The team reports that his prognosis is good, and after recovery, he will return to racing with a goal of winning the Vuelta a España, which starts on August 23 in Piemonte, Italy.
His strongest result at the Vuelta came in 2020, when he finished second overall. In 2022, he took three stage wins and secured the King of the Mountains jersey. Last year, he placed fourth, finishing 4:02 behind overall winner Primož Roglič."
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