Three teammates are recovering from knee surgery, two more sidelined separately—leaving Carapaz as the team's only Grand Tour leader it can field. "We wanted to go for the general classification, but we don't have a strong team because of the many injuries; a lot of teammates are recovering," he told Primicias. Instead of chasing the overall, the team is running the same playbook as Tour de France 2026: freedom to attack, hunt mountain points, take stages. On a Vuelta with 58,000 meters of climbing and finishes like Sierra de la Pandera, that's not a consolation prize—it's another way to win the race on his own terms.