Latest news with #EFEducationEasyPost
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Richard Carapaz ruled out of Tour de France with stomach infection
Richard Carapaz will not race at this year's Tour de France due to a gastrointestinal infection, the Ecuadorian has confirmed. Carapaz, who was crowned the Tour's king of the mountains and won the overall combativity award in 2024, will not compete after symptoms of abdominal pain and a high fever while training for the race in Ecuador. Advertisement He underwent several rounds of medical tests that revealed the infection, which was confirmed by additional scans and imaging, and is currently receiving antibiotics and medication. It comes less than a month after the 32-year-old record a podium finish at the Giro d'Italia. Carapaz announced on his Instagram account that with 'great sadness' he would be missing the Tour, which starts on July 5. A post shared by Richard Carapaz (@richardcarapaz) 'Not the best news, but health always comes first,' he said. 'Thank you all for your messages and support.' Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Carapaz's team EF Education-EasyPost, said he was 'gutted' for the Ecuadorian in a statement. 'He came out of the Giro with amazing form and was setting career-high power numbers in training,' Vaughters said. '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 has recorded six podium finishes across cycling's three Grand Tours; he won the Giro in 2019, finished second in 2022 and also recorded a second-place finish at the Vuelta de Espana in 2020. His best finish in the Tour de France was third in 2021. In July 2021, he won the gold medal in the road race at the 2020 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Ecuadorian cyclist to win a medal and only the second Ecuadorian in any sport to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. Carapaz is now targeting a return in the Vuelta, which starts in Spain on August 23 and will last for three weeks. 'His goal? Win the Vuelta,' said his team. (Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
CNA
a day ago
- Sport
- CNA
Stomach infection forces Carapaz out of Tour de France
Ecuador's Richard Carapaz, who finished third at the Giro d'Italia earlier this month, will miss the Tour de France, which starts next week, due to a stomach infection, his team EF Education-EasyPost said on Saturday. Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Carapaz, who won the mountains classification at last year's Tour de France, had abdominal pain and a high fever and was advised by doctors to avoid long-haul travel and competition, the team said in a statement. "It's with great sadness that I have to tell you that a gastrointestinal infection is forcing me to miss the Tour de France," Carapaz wrote on Instagram. "Not the best news, but health always comes first. Thank you all for your messages and support." Carapaz, 32, will take a few weeks off to recover before resuming his training with a focus on the Vuelta a Espana, which starts in August, his team added. The Tour de France will begin on July 5 in Lille and conclude on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 27.
Reuters
a day ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Stomach infection forces Carapaz out of Tour de France
June 29 (Reuters) - Ecuador's Richard Carapaz, who finished third at the Giro d'Italia earlier this month, will miss the Tour de France, which starts next week, due to a stomach infection, his team EF Education-EasyPost said on Saturday. Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Carapaz, who won the mountains classification at last year's Tour de France, had abdominal pain and a high fever and was advised by doctors to avoid long-haul travel and competition, the team said in a statement. "It's with great sadness that I have to tell you that a gastrointestinal infection is forcing me to miss the Tour de France," Carapaz wrote on Instagram. "Not the best news, but health always comes first. Thank you all for your messages and support." Carapaz, 32, will take a few weeks off to recover before resuming his training with a focus on the Vuelta a Espana, which starts in August, his team added. The Tour de France will begin on July 5 in Lille and conclude on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 27.
The 42
3 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
Murphy and Mullen the big winners at TT National Championships
KELLY MURPHY and Ryan Mullen were the big winners amid wet and windy conditions at today's Time-Trial National Championships in Westmeath. Paris Olympian Murphy claimed another Senior National Championship in the Women's category. She finished with a time of 33:06.59, 13.89 seconds ahead of second-placed Paralympic pilot Linda Kelly, while Olympic Team Pursuit teammate Mia Griffin was third. 'Feels really good,' said Kelly afterwards. 'I've won a few now, but every time it gets more and more tense, so it feels better every single time. Advertisement 'These races are tough for anyone, so I do actually prefer it when it's a tough day, it separates people out a bit. It was really, really tough out on the road. I thought that roundabout was never going to come.' Meanwhile, Mullen prevailed in the Elite Men's category The Hansgrohe rider finished the 25km course in 29:22.16. He was 6.27 seconds ahead of second-place George Peden. EF Education EasyPost's Darren Rafferty was third, 14.45 seconds adrift of Mullen. 'Obviously, come here every year really motivated to try and win,' Mullen said following his win. 'But every year, it's getting harder and harder to win. It's always a big relief to come and pull this off — everyone thinks the World Tour guys come in and lap it up, but there's a lot of stiff competition and you have to really work for it. 'I had a feeling it was going to be pretty windy, and I didn't plan for the rain, but here we are, in the middle of Ireland, nothing new there. It was challenging, had to be cautious at the roundabout.' Mullen will next compete in the Road Race National Championships, hosted by Navan RC and Yellow Furze Road Club, on Saturday and Sunday. 'Again, I'm very motivated, it's my neck of the woods, my whole family is from there,' he added. 'Lovely big fan club there, so really motivated.' You can view the event's results in full here.
New York Times
14-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Richard Carapaz interview: ‘When I'm at altitude in Europe, I never feel that burden'
'Ever since I was training in Ecuador beforehand, I was open that my goal was to win the Giro,' says Richard Carapaz. 'In that sense, it was the race that we were preparing for. We (EF Education–EasyPost) didn't have the most powerful team, but with the team we did have, we were brave enough to dare to dream. Advertisement 'It was one of the most beautiful experiences. It was the very fact of feeling again, of being plugged in every day to try to win. That itself is something, hey? And well, it's not easy. But it makes me feel alive, because I think that's my essence.' It has been two weeks since the Giro d'Italia, and Richard Carapaz can speak to The Athletic with considered analysis about the events of the past month. His distinctive silhouette animated the race as its most aggressive rider — low on his bike, crucifix poking out from behind a half-undone zip, barely appearing to breathe but for the sheen of sweat. During his fiercest attacks, such as those up to Castelnovo ne' Monti or San Valentino, his torso sways vigorously from side to side, chin still aerodynamically tucked. He resembles Pernell Whitaker evading punches while throwing them himself. Entering the climactic stage 20 as the in-form climber in the race, 43 seconds behind Isaac del Toro, the surprise 21-year-old wearer of the pink jersey, Carapaz was arguably favourite for the Maglia Rosa. In the event, as Carapaz and Del Toro marked each other, British rider Simon Yates surged forward to victory. Carapaz finished third, his fifth Grand Tour podium, and first since 2022. Back in Ecuador, where he is training for next month's Tour de France, Carapaz is proud of the result. Six years after first winning the Giro, the 32-year-old remains on its podium — even if he is still confused over how the final racing day played out. 'I never fully understood why it went that way on the (Colle delle) Finestre,' he says. 'But those kinds of things are difficult to control. When it's not in your hands, it's impossible to change. Everything that was within my reach, or everything I could do as a rider, I did.' Over a 90-minute conversation, Carapaz gives his version of what transpired on the Finestre and discusses his plans for the Tour de France — but to begin to understand the man, how he races and who he is, you have to understand the Ecuadorian highlands. Carapaz was born in Carchi, one of Ecuador's most remote and mountainous provinces, lying on its northern border with Colombia. It provides potatoes, sweetcorn, and spring onions, with its largest settlement, Tulcan, the highest city in the country at 2,900 metres. In an era where the sport's top riders go on altitude training camps to acclimatise, Carapaz is at a natural advantage. But it is uphill still to Playa Alta, his hometown, which is over 1,000m higher than the 2,178m Finestre, the high point of this year's Giro. Advertisement 'When I'm at altitude in Europe, I never feel that burden,' Carapaz says. 'It's something normal. It's maybe a little different to the altitude we have here, because there's humidity in Ecuador — in Europe, the air is drier and better at 1500m. 'But I must be the professional that lives at the highest altitude in the whole peloton. You can see there's a benefit, because it's not the same thing to live at sea level and go uphill to adapt. My family has lived at altitude for five generations — genetically, my body is made to survive 3000m.' But there's more to the mountains than height alone. Two hundred kilometres from Quito, life is harder — Carapaz first picked up a bike out of necessity, rather than dreams of stardom. 'Every sport needs a lot of research, a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, right?' argues Carapaz. 'It's not purely genetic construction — you can't go out and win a Tour de France like that. You need preparation, proper nutrition, proper work. When I was a kid, I didn't do these sorts of things. 'When I went to school, I rode my bike, but it's because it was easier than walking. I didn't have in my head that I wanted to be Marco Pantani or Miguel Indurain. It was part of daily life.' And life almost got in Carapaz's way. As a 13-year-old, his mother Ana Luisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. 'She had to go and live in Quito for treatment,' says Carapaz. 'The farm was left alone, and so my grandfather and I had to take care of the pigs, the chicken, the cattle. My siblings were at university — I was left in charge.' He rose every morning at 5am, spending an hour and a half milking the family's seven cows by hand. Sometimes, jobs were not done until it was too late to cycle to class. He continued doing these jobs even once his parents returned — on one occasion, Carapaz missed the visit of the man who would become his first coach to his school. Hearing about the opportunity, the teenager raced to join his cycling group the next day. Advertisement 'Certain activities I did, whether you like it or not, also shape your character,' he says. 'That defines a lot of when I am riding, of being fierce, of persevering, and having that beast character when things do not work out to turn the situation around — because it happens here very often, doesn't it? 'Country life is not easy. If your parents work in agriculture, the condition of their crop makes a big difference. That is how I was shaped.' It was a mentality that allowed him to fly. With his mother recovered, and his cycling talent recognised, Carapaz devoured the training and nutrition he needed to turn professional, first cracking South America, and then Europe. Over the video call, Carapaz is wearing a T-shirt from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where he won the road race, capturing what was Ecuador's second-ever gold medal. Carchi was to thank for that as well, with the area's humidity mirroring the oppressive summer conditions of Japan. He was strong enough to ride away from the chasers on unfamiliar, flatter terrain. For this season, Carapaz promised EF that he would arrive at the Giro in the best shape of his career. Rather than doing the team's typical training camp in the Sierra Nevada or Andorra, he wanted to remain in Ecuador, taking advantage of his home's natural features. 'This year has been a little different,' he says. 'The team wanted to give me a certain freedom. And being here has always been a plus — I'm a boy who is used to living above 3,000m. But in a certain sense, it's also a commitment to show that I can prepare for the objective just as I have in previous years.' His team quickly had that proof. Entering somewhat under the radar as a general classification (GC) rider, Carapaz realised in Albania that he had good legs — moving into overall contention after winning stage 11, and again taking significant time out of Del Toro on stage 16. Entering the final two mountain days, his director sportif, Juanma Garate, himself a stage winner in all three Grand Tours, addressed the team on the bus, Carapaz having his battered body stretched out by a soigneur at its back. 'We are second in GC, we have the strongest rider in the race, and we have 40 seconds to a rider who is struggling on the long climbs,' Garate said. 'You're not going to find yourself in this scenario much in your career. But you'll remember this for the rest of your life.' Advertisement After a stalemate on stage 19, the 18km climb of the legendary Finestre would be decisive — a climb Carapaz had ridden well back in 2018, with its gravelled slope reminiscent of his local Volcano Chiles, just across the Colombian border. EF hatched a plan. 'We knew we didn't have the best team in the race,' Carapaz says. 'So we had to do a slightly different race — we didn't want Del Toro and UAE Team Emirates to control everything like the day before, when he always had four or five teammates with him. You couldn't move, because they were always in the majority. 'So the plan on the Finestre was to break the race in the first kilometre, to try everything and make them play their cards. To isolate Del Toro was our first objective. And well, we did that, didn't we? There was chaos where Del Toro, me, and Yates were left alone from the third kilometre onwards.' But unable to shake Del Toro, and with the young Mexican unwilling to chase down Yates' subsequent attacks, Carapaz was left in a difficult tactical position as the Visma–Lease a Bike rider soloed away towards overall victory. 'When several days have passed, you can think about everything with a cooler head,' says Carapaz. 'The plan was to show who the strongest was. But Del Toro was obsessed with me. He stayed with me until the last minute. 'Yates had already attacked once, I'd closed the gap for him (Del Toro), and this time Yates had 20 to 30 seconds. I asked Del Toro to help me, but he refused. So my thinking was, 'If you aren't going to work, I'm going to let people go'. If you're the leader of the race, the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey), that's the point that you have to take the lead, because you're the one who's losing the jersey. 'I rode again, when Yates was almost two minutes away, with the idea of cresting the Finestre much closer to him. And we brought it back to 1.20. And that's when Del Toro really had to take the baton. He could have won the Giro, but I don't understand why they didn't make that decision. He became so obsessed with me — that however good he was the day before did not matter. 'In the end, Yates had a teammate (Wout van Aert) in front who helped him a lot. You see, then, that Isaac came and asked me for help. I told him: 'Man, the race is over now. I can't do anything anymore, I'm sorry'.' Despite his frustration with UAE's tactics on the final day, Carapaz still rates Del Toro highly. Advertisement 'He had been in front for many days,' he says. 'For that, you've got legs, you don't need to prove it. I already knew a little about his quality, we raced together last year and he showed a very good level. And in that sense, it showed that there's a replacement of a new generation of talent that is coming from behind. It's been a demonstration of what he can do.' And in a wider sense, this year's Giro was significant as a race animated by Latin American riders. Del Toro and Carapaz both finished on the podium and won stages. Colombian Egan Bernal showed his best form since his 2022 crash, sparking the chaos of the gravel stage to Siena. 'The role of Latin Americans has been clear,' he remarks. 'Everyone has been working for their own team but it has been very important for our entire continent, because we have been the main movers in the race. We all had the same objective to win.' Just over a month from riding into Rome, Carapaz will be on the Tour de France startlist in Lille. Here, the reigning King of the Mountains has been tasked with an alternative brief. 'The Tour is a bit of a different race,' he says. 'In a certain sense, I don't have the team to fight for the overall victory with. You need that for the first 10 stages. So to go for the general classification would be a little absurd. We're going to do things that we can do. 'So our objectives are different. It'll be similar to last year — I'll go for a few stages, for the mountains jersey, which I really like. It's a beautiful jersey. 'And in the end, it's also going to be a bit more fun for me, isn't it? Taking away the pressure of fighting every day for a Grand Tour, I've done that this year. In that sense, it's a little bit better for me, too.'
