“This wasn’t part of the plan” - Former Giro d’Italia winner Richard Carapaz faces race against time as surgery just weeks before start threatens to derail Maglia Rosa bid

Richard Carapaz’s Giro d’Italia preparation has been thrown into uncertainty at the worst possible moment, with the Ecuadorian confirming he has undergone surgery just five weeks before the race he has built his season around.

The former winner, who returned to the podium as recently as last year, revealed the news himself, outlining both the timing of the procedure and the immediate shift in focus towards recovery ahead of the May start.

“It wasn’t part of the plan, but it was handled in the best possible way. Last night I underwent a procedure for a perineal condition. Everything went as expected and successfully. From today, I’m fully focused on recovery and getting back to my best level ahead of the Giro,” he captioned an image of himself in a hospital bed on Instagram.

For Carapaz, the issue is not simply the operation itself, but when it arrives. The final weeks before a Grand Tour are typically reserved for sharpening form, locking in climbing condition, and fine-tuning race intensity. Instead, his preparation has been forced into a recovery phase, removing the opportunity to build momentum through racing or structured training blocks.

That shift comes on top of an already uneven start to his 2026 season. A delayed return to racing and a relatively quiet Volta a Catalunya campaign, where he finished tenth overall despite a more encouraging showing on the Queralt stage, had already left him playing catch-up compared to his rivals.

Now, with time lost at the most decisive point of his build-up, the challenge becomes not just reaching the start line, but doing so at a level capable of competing over three weeks.

The timing carries added weight given Carapaz’s recent history at the race. Just twelve months ago, he was firmly in the fight for overall victory, ultimately finishing on the podium after a sustained battle that slipped away late on. That performance reinforced his status as one of the Giro’s most consistent contenders, adding to his breakthrough overall win earlier in his career.

It is that pedigree which makes this setback more significant. Carapaz is not targeting a stage win or opportunistic result, but a return to the top of the general classification against a field expected to include some of the strongest stage racers in the sport.

With rivals arriving off uninterrupted preparations and structured build-ups, even a small deficit in readiness can prove decisive across three weeks.

Carapaz’s focus is now entirely on compressing his recovery into the limited time available, with the aim of reaching the Giro at full capacity. Whether that proves achievable will define not just his race, but the trajectory of his entire season.