A heavy setback for the aspirations of Richard Carapazo repeat podium in Tour of France. Only in the first phase of the Ecuadorian test suffered a fall that left him out of the fight for the title.

“These are things that can happenwe are exposed to it and today it happened to us,” said Juanma Gárate, EF’s sporting director.

The EF team is awaiting Richard Carapazo’s medical evaluation

Carapaz managed to recover and return to the racea real triumph due to the bad face of the Ecuadorian cyclist, but with the fall, the options of fighting for the yellow shirt first disappeared, and with the doctor’s report, the possibility of continuing the competition.

In a post on social networks, EF reported that the Olympic champion will not continue the test and that he is returning to the country to recover and plan the second part of the season.

“Richard Carapaz The 2nd stage of the Tour de France will not start after the ultrasound revealed a small fracture in the left patella” EF announced.

The fall also caused him a a cut in the left knee that needed to be stitched upalthough he “suffered no other injuries in the crash,” the US team announced.

carapace he will return to the country to recover. “Hello, champion. We will carry your attacking spirit for the rest of this tour,” EF said.

Change of plan

With Carapaza out of contention for the yellow jersey, EF will have to look for alternatives to be the protagonist in the Grande Boucle. The other side of the medal in the stage was Neilson Powless, who climbed the podium and received the mountain leader’s shirt.

“We fought the mountain, that was one of the objectives of the day, but in less than five minutes we went from joy to sorrow at Richard’s fallGarate said.

But the Spanish improved it the American team “maintains its intention to fight the stages, the overall ranking was beyond Richard’s reach, but we will fight in the stages”, he assured. (D)