In order to defend his road cycling crown, Richard Carapaz will not be attending the Olympics in Paris.
Jhonatan Narváez will be Ecuador's lone representative at the Olympics in the individual time trial and road cycling competitions, the national cycling organization said in a statement on Monday.
Greeting "Jhonatan with the best of luck," Carapaz said on social media, promising to keep aiming higher. Ecuador's place in Paris was fiercely contested by the two cyclists.
Carapaz won the 2019 Giro d'Italia, becoming the first Ecuadorian to win a major tour. Although he hasn't finished a major race since 2022, he did place third in both the race de France and the Spanish Vuelta.
In April of this year, he participated in the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland, winning a stage and placing eighth.
The Olympian cyclist asserted in many interviews that Narváez was given preference in the competition to get Ecuador's lone road cycling berth in Paris. The federation denied the charge.
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