It will definitely be Jhonatan Narváez, and not the Tokyo Olympic champion, Richard Carapaz, the cyclist who occupies the only place that Ecuador had for the online events (August 3) and time trial (July 27) of the Paris Olympic Games . This was announced on Monday, as planned, by the Cycling Federation of Ecuador (FEC), which, in a statement, appealed to the “federal autonomy and the regulations issued” to reject the intervention of the Ministry of Sports of the Andean country in the selection process.
Carapaz, who will turn 31 on Wednesday, immediately accepted Narváez’s appointment. “This time it could not be the representation for the Olympic Games, but I want to wish Jhonatan the best of luck, may he do well and may he represent us in the best way,” he said in a post in who also vindicated his fight against what he considered unfair selection rules: “For my part, I continue to prepare for new objectives, new goals, and, remember, never stop raising your voice for a fair sport.”
The cyclist known as the Carchi Locomotive, after the Ecuadorian region where he was born, bordering Colombia, won gold in Tokyo 2020, beating Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar in August 2021 in the race held on the Mount Fuji circuit , and had requested the intervention of his Ministry of Sports because he believed that the FEC criteria were designed on purpose to select Narváez. Published last March, these indicated that only UCI points would be taken into account—the valuation set by the International Cycling Union for each position in each race taking into account its importance—obtained from January 1, 2024 and not simply the position in the UCI ranking, which takes into account the points achieved in the last 12 months.
Carapaz, who had planned a half-speed first part of the season with his sights set on having a good Tour as leader of the EF, has only added 529 points in the first five months of the year. For his part, Narváez, 27 years old, already began with a WorldTour test, the ones that score the most, in January, when he finished second in the Tour Down Under, in Australia, and after beating Carapaz in the Ecuadorian championship, he competed in the Giro d’Italia with Ineos. He won the first stage and was in the pink jersey for one day, the only day that Tadej Pogacar did not wear it. In total he accumulates 1,399 points in 2024.
The performance in 2024 of Narváez, from El Playón de San Francisco, in the province of Sucumbíos, has been so good that although he started the year behind Carapaz in the UCI ranking of the last 12 months, in the last one published by the international federation, this Monday, is already 29th (1,873 points), ahead of his compatriot (56th, 1,399 points), who would not have been finally either if the regulations that he considered more equitable had been applied.
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