The Olympic champion of the road in Tokyo 2020, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, has already returned to practice since January 5 and now trains with a Cannondale brand bicycle, which has gold details as a reference to his Olympic medal.
According to the report of the newspaper El Comercio, Carapaz begins to recover his physical form, little by little. These days he can already be seen on the roads, with his new bicycle and the striking colors of the EF Education-EasyPost team, an American group that confirmed his tonsil surgery, in December 2022.
“After consulting with the team, Richard Carapaz underwent surgery in December to remove his tonsils,” the group published on January 10, 2023.
The surgery was performed in Ecuador, in the middle of the last month of 2022. “The procedure itself went well, although Richard’s recovery took longer than initially expected,” the team confirmed.
“The surgery was a success, but he had a minor complication during recovery that caused his tonsils to bleed. He’s had two and a half weeks off the bike and is now back training normally,” confirmed Jon Greenwell, a physician at the EF Education-EasyPost.
Carapaz said that he had discomfort for three years. The infection in the tonsils was somewhat recurrent. “Last year I had had a lot of recurring infections and by the end it was becoming a problem. Wherever I went and did what I did, I always had this problem. At the end of the day, it’s a nuisance,” the cyclist told his team. .
Formally, he practices on the new bicycle since January 5, 2023. “The first day, he was a little uncomfortable on the bicycle,” said the Ecuadorian.
“The first few days I started with a couple of hours, just two or three. I think things are getting back to where they belong, the body is adjusting to the bike again and it’s getting back to the routine”, explained the Olympic champion.
“I can now start to think about structuring good training sessions and, above all, start the year off right,” added he, who has the Tour de France as his main goal for the season.
Jonathan Vaughters, executive director of the team, reiterated that the main objective continues to be to compete in the general classification of the Tour de France with Richard Carapaz at the helm of the squad.
“His main objective of him, the Tour de France, is still going,” Vaughters said in the note published by EF Education.
“Richard’s health and the health of all our riders is always our first priority. This is not a long-term setback for him, although we may need to adjust some of his spring goals. His main goal, the Tour de France , is still on the way,” said the CEO.
“The performance staff and Richard will work together to get back to racing at a pace that makes sense.”
The ‘Locomotive of Carchi’ is expected to recover to appear in the National Championships on the second weekend of February. Carapaz is the current national time trial champion.
Skills
– National Road Championship between February 10 and 12, 2023.
– The Tour de France will run from July 1 to 23, 2023.
– The Tour of Spain will be from August 26 to September 17, 2023.
Source: Carlos Augusto Rojas, from the newspaper El Comercio