Richard Carapaz is to miss the Vuelta a España due to a "stop-start recovery" from the illness which prevented him from riding the Tour de France, it was announced on Tuesday.
The Ecuadorian will instead focus on Il Lombardia and the World Championships in Rwanda, EF Education-EasyPost revealed in a statement.
"After the illness I had, I had to stop several times as I couldn’t train for more than two or three days at a time,” Carapaz said. “Now in Ecuador, I’m trying to get back to normal with training and continue moving forward with what we had planned. I’m almost fully recovered now."
The 32-year-old finished third at the Giro d'Italia in May, winning a stage along the way, but has not raced since then. He is a stage winner at all three Grand Tours, including three at the Vuelta, arace he finished second at in 2020.
However, after a gastrointestinal infection took him out of the Tour, recovery from that has prevented him from taking to the start line in Turin on Saturday.
"Now, the next goals we’ve set are the Italian classics, especially Il Lombardia, and also the World Championships in Rwanda," Carapaz said. "It’s a very special World Championship for me, where I have a big opportunity, and I want to prepare for it the best way possible. That’s why I came to Ecuador: to do some altitude training, regain motivation, and focus 100 percent. Certain factors play in our favour, and we want to make the most of them."
The road race in Kigali features over 6,000 metres of altitude in 267.5km, and will be raced at altitude, with the Rwandan capital sitting 1,300m above sea level.
Carapaz, as a former Olympic road race champion, will be one of the favourites for the rainbow bands come the World Championships at the end of September.
The riders who will race for EF Education-EasyPost at the Vuelta are yet to be announced, but keep across all announced riders for the 80th edition of the race with our start list.
