The Giro d'Italia's list of major favourites lost another key name this week when it was confirmed that 2019 winner and 2025 podium finisher Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) would not be starting.
Carapaz, 32, is recovering from surgery to remove a perineal cyst, his team said, and will now focus on the Tour de France. His absence is another major loss to the Giro d'Italia GC lineup, which has already seen some key names drop out this week.
On Monday, it was confirmed that both former podium finisher and race leader João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), still rebuilding his condition after an early half of the year blighted by illness, and perennial dark horse favourite Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), injured, would be non-starters.
Carapaz, 32, has by far the best series of Giro results of any of those originally pencilled in for the 2026 race. A model of high-level consistency, his worst-ever performance in the Italian Grand Tour, fourth in 2018, was followed by an overall victory in 2019, second in 2022 and third in 2025.
He has fully recovered from the surgery to remove a perineal cyst that he underwent at home in Ecuador after the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, the team statement said.
However, the wound took longer to heal than first anticipated, which delayed his return to training. The fifth participation of his career in the Giro, therefore, will have to wait.
“For me, it's a complete disappointment, because the Giro is a race that I've always had a lot of affection for and looked forward to,” Carapaz said in his press statement.
“I always want to prepare for it in the best way. Finding myself in this situation is frustrating because you put a lot of desire and time into it, but in the end, I have to prioritise my health now and move forward."
Third in the 2025 Giro, Carapaz's enforced absence means that none of the GC podium finishers from last year's race will be taking part. It also both heightens Jonas Vingegaard's already significant status as top favourite, and simultaneously removes one of the most unpredictable and aggressive racers of the modern-day peloton from the 2026 Giro GC equation.
With no Carapaz or Almeida taking part, Italy's Giulio Pellizzari and Australia's Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) are now four of Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike's most likely challengers.
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