"I wasn’t fit to race a Grand Tour" - Tour de France blow for Movistar as Iván Romeo ruled out

The absence of Iván Romeo from the upcoming Tour de France and the Spanish Championships is a heavy blow for the Valladolid rider and for fans who hoped to see him at two of the season’s key dates.

After Movistar Team officially confirmed that the rider will miss both events due to the flu he has been battling since the Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, Romeo addressed his followers with a message on his Instagram account.

The under-23 world champion admitted the update was not what he wanted to share. “As you saw in the previous story, I’m not here to bring very good news,” he began, visibly affected by a situation that forces him to completely rethink the plans he had built over recent months.

Romeo explained that the after-effects of the illness have kept him from returning to normal training after the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. “After the Dauphiné I haven’t been able to recover as well as I would have liked to continue the build we had planned for the most important races of the year,” he said.

Following an assessment with the team’s medical staff, both parties agreed that the prudent option was to skip both the Spanish Championships and the Tour de France. “We’ve decided with the medical team that the best thing is not to be at either the championships or the Tour,” he stated.

The Movistar Team rider did not hide his disappointment at missing the major goals he had targeted for months. “You can imagine how hard it was for me personally to make that decision, after all the preparation, with the whole year focused on it,” he confessed.

Even so, Romeo stressed that the priority is to fully recover before racing again. “We believe it was the best choice and that I wasn’t in condition to contest a Grand Tour,” he added, backing the team’s decision.

Refusing to dwell on frustration, the rider from Valladolid also sent an upbeat message for the months ahead. “Thank you all for the support.

"Now it’s time to focus our energy on the rest of the season, which is long, and to be in races where you’ll see me and enjoy me racing,” he said.

Finally, Romeo was determined to return to competition as soon as possible and regain the level that underpinned an outstanding first half of the season. “I’ll try to recover as soon as possible and be there,” he concluded.