He may be headed to a British WorldTour team but Richard Carapaz has been unable to get into Britain due to visa problems.
The Giro winner, who is from Ecuador, was due to ride the
Tour of Britain with his Movistar team.
However, unspecified visa problems mean he does not have
clearance to enter Britain and therefore will now miss the race.
Movistar has insisted it had gone through all the correct
channels to secure the visa for the 26-year-old, suggesting the paperwork has
simply not been granted in time.
"Sadly and despite the Movistar team following all
procedures Richard Carapaz's visa has not been granted in time for him to
travel to the Tour of Britain," the team said in a statement.
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The mishap continues something of a disastrous latter
season for Carapaz, who has signed with Team Ineos for three years from the
beginning of next year.
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He enjoyed a 2½ month break from racing after his
brilliant Giro win and then returned for Vuelta
a Burgos (2.HC) in mid August.
He finished 3rd
overall in that race; a result that very much suggested he was looking forward
to a strong second half of 2019.
However, while he
was due to ride the Vuelta he crashed in a demonstration criterium race in
Holland the weekend before the Spanish Grand Tour started.
He did not break
any bones but while Movistar tried to patch him up and was hopeful he could
start the Vuelta, his injuries did not heal sufficiently and he was unable to
start.
And now his visa
issues mean he has also been ruled out of the Tour of Britain, which gets
underway in Scotland tomorrow.
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