"My friends were calling to ask me what was going on" - Jhonatan Narváez unhappy about Richard Carapaz's comments on Olympic Games selection

This year's Olympic Games road race has always been a bit controversial after the Committee's decision to have equal number of men and women at the start. This means the valuable spots available for the male race became even more sought for, resulting in many hard decisions that often didn't go well with the riders involved. One such case happened in Ecuador, the country of the last Olympic champion Richard Carapaz.

The Southamerican nation has only a handful of riders scoring UCI points during the season and thus they (unsurprisingly) ended up securing only one slot to split between two leaders; Carapaz and Jhonatan Narváez. The Ecuardorian Cycling Federation didn't further complicate the matter and selected the INEOS Grenadiers rider Narváez who scored more points in the nomination period and also showed a better form. Understandably, Carapaz wasn't on the same boat and expressed his dissatisfaction online.

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His compatriot Narváez tried to see things from bigger perspective: "I talked to him two months ago. I told him we should wait and see what happens. He and I wanted to go to the Olympics. Then he wrote me when I won the stage of the Giro. And the day my selection was announced, he wrote to me to congratulate me. In the end, it's sport, that's how you have to consider it," he declared to Primicias.

Everything is back to normal then, even if Narvaez admits to regretting the way in which Carapaz expressed his disagreement: "I understand that Richard had his interests and wanted to convey his dissatisfaction with the regulations, but it seems to me that he didn't do it in the best way, because in the end, I got involved in things that affected me. My friends called me to ask me what was going on. Something I wasn't looking for. Maybe if Richard had expressed himself differently, it wouldn't have happened like this. It didn't end badly, but there was a controversy."

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The weight of decision then fell on the shoulders of Ecuardorian Federation: "In the world of cycling, the only thing you have to do is pedal and listen to your team and the authorities. In this case, like it or not, it's the Authoritative Federation."

Concerning the Olympic Games race, which promises to be very difficult, the recent stage winner and wearer of the pink jersey at the Giro displays his ambition and his serenity: "It will be the same difficulty for everyone. I'm going to train a lot for these Olympics. I'm going to do my best in preparation, and if the race decides to leave me behind or put me in front, that's what will happen that day."

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