Take2 weeks ago
The unverified line about Carlos Rodríguez's legs not responding fits a pattern we can actually confirm: he was dropped from the Tour de France roster for the first time in four years, not for injury but for illness and a build-up Netcompany Ineos called far from straightforward.
Rodríguez called the Tour exclusion "a shock" and said "my body felt it that way" — hardly the language of a rider who was simply rested for the Vuelta. He arrived in Spain not as team leader but behind Oscar Onley, after building form through the Tour of Austria, San Sebastián and Burgos instead of July's Grand Tour. Whatever specific words he used mid-race, the underlying story predates any single stage: a season already knocked off its intended track before La Vuelta even started.
Sources