Carapaz to skip Spanish Vuelta as he recovers from bug

Former Olympic champion Richard Carapaz, who withdraw from the Tour de France with a stomach bug, is not fit to race in the Spanish Vuelta, his team said on Tuesday.

The Ecuadorian has had a difficult recovery and he not ready for the Vuelta which starts on Saturday.

"I couldn't train for more than two or three days at a time," he was quoted as saying in a statement by the EF Education team.

Carapaz said he was training in Ecuador and would concentrate on the late-season one-day classics and the world championships in September.

"I'm almost fully recovered now," he said. "The next goals we've set are the Italian classics, especially Il Lombardia, and also the World Championships in Rwanda."

Carapaz, a former Italian Giro winner, last summer became the first Ecuadorian to wear the yellow leader's jersey on the Tour de France, where he led for a day. Yet he was not selected by his country to defend his Olympic title in Paris.

"It's a very special World Championship," he wrote. "That's why I came to Ecuador: to do some altitude training, regain motivation, and focus 100 per cent. Certain factors play in our favour, and we want to make the most of them."

Carapaz finished third in Giro in June and, said his team, was showing "better power figures than ever in training" before his illness.