Richard Carapaz will miss the Tour de France, his team Education First announced on Saturday. The 32-year-old Ecuadorian has contracted a gastrointestinal infection in his home country.
Carapaz finished third in the Giro d’Italia last month and then returned to Ecuador to prepare for the Tour. There he suffered from fever and abdominal pain. Medical examinations have revealed that Carapaz has a gastrointestinal infection, forcing him to miss the Tour de France.
“We all sympathize with Richard,” said team manager Jonathan Vaughters. “He was in top form after the Giro and rode great values during training. He has sacrificed a lot to get to this level, so the timing couldn’t have been more unfortunate.”
Carapaz has since spoken out via Instagram. “This is not the best news, but my health comes first,” he said. “Thank you all for your messages and words of encouragement.”
The 2021 Olympic champion and 2019 Giro winner has participated in the Tour de France four times before. In 2021, he stood on the podium as number three, along with winner Tadej Pogacar and number two Jonas Vingegaard. Last year he won a stage for the first time and also won the polka dot jersey.
Carapaz is now focusing on the third grand tour of the season, the Vuelta a España. This starts on August 23 in Turin, Italy. Carapaz has also reached the podium in the Vuelta before. In 2020 he was second behind Primoz Roglic.