Tour of Utah: EF Education First scratch Martinez

EF Education First were forced to pull Daniel Martinez out of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah before Monday's prologue time trial after the Colombian climbing specialist and recent Pan American time trial champion arrived in Salt Lake City suffering from illness.

"He was not feeling good. He was sick," EF Education First director Fabrizio Guidi told Cyclingnews. "We tried the maximum with our staff to let him start, but it's actually not possible, it's not possible, not possible."

Martinez reportedly arrived in Salt Lake City at 2 a.m. Monday morning after competing in the Pan American Games last week.

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"It was already two days to try and get him ready to start," Guidi said. "Having him at 80 per cent was OK, but that actually was not possible, so he's flying out tomorrow."

Martinez was the team's likely general classification rider after Tejay van Garderen was scratched from the original provisional roster. The team's current five-rider roster still includes two former Utah champions in Joe Dombrowski [2015] and Lachlan Morton [2016], but Guidi said it remains up in the air as to which rider the team will support for the GC.

"We have to think a little bit about the race," Guidi said. "We are five. We have no more our GC leader, but I think we have also a strong group of riders who are ready and motivated. We'll see what happens today and then think about the GC.

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