Richard Carapaz will miss the Vuelta a España as he continues his recovery from the injury that forced him out of the Tour de France on the opening day. The Ecuadorian sustained a fractured kneecap when he crashed in the finale of stage 1 in Bilbao.
In Carapaz’s absence, EF Education-EasyPost will be led in Spain by Hugh Carthy, who placed third overall at the 2020 Vuelta, when he also won atop the Angliru.
The Briton will be flanked in the mountains by Diego Camargo, Jonathan Caicedo, and Andrea Piccolo. The team is completed by Sean Quinn, Andrea Piccolo, Stefan Bissegger and Julius van den Berg.
Carthy performed strongly at the Tour of the Alps in April, placing second overall, but he abandoned the Giro d’Italia with stomach issues in the final days while lying 14th overall. His lone outing since came at the Tour de l’Ain, where he was forced out after crashing on stage 2, but he has been passed fit to ride the Vuelta.
“I am excited. It has been a long summer at home, but I am finally ready to crack on again,” Carthy said in a statement released by the team. “The route is good; it is a nice route. There are some roads I know well in Catalunya and Andorra and over in Navarra as well. Looking at the team that we have got, it is a nice group. Everything I have done at home was as good as it could have been, so I am excited and optimistic as well.”
The Vuelta gets underway in Barcelona on Saturday when Bissegger will play a key role in EF Education-EasyPost’s effort in the opening team time trial. The Swiss rider will also target the time trial on stage 10 as he looks to bounce back from a subdued performance in the World Championships time trial.
“Personally, I was a bit disappointed with Worlds. I didn’t have the power I should have had or wanted to have, but that is also life. Now, I am going in the good direction,” Bissegger said.
“Obviously, I am looking forward to the time trial and maybe some breakaways. There are a few breakaway stages that look quite good for me. It is going to be interesting.”
Earlier this week, Carapaz’s doctor José Reinhart told Ecuadorian radio station La Red that the Olympic champion would have to forgo the Vuelta.
“Richard will not be able to be in the Vuelta a España. We did what was necessary, we followed the indicated steps, but he won't make it. At the beginning, we had the hope that he would make it to the competition, but it was not possible,” Reinhart said. “The problem was that he had an inflammation of the tendon, and that made the recovery process take longer than expected.”
