Narváez won the opening stage of the recent Giro d'Italia and was an INEOS Grenadiers team-mate of Carapaz from 2020-22. The Olympic champion then joined the American EF Education–EasyPost outfit.

"This time it was not possible for me to be the representative at the Olympic Games and I would like to wish Jhonatan the best of luck. I wish him all the best to represent us in the best possible way." Carapaz said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter. 

In a statement, the FEC said, "Jhonathan Manuel Narváez Prado will take part in the road race and the individual time trial."

Carapaz, who won the 2019 Giro d'Italia, was critical of the selection criteria used by the FEC. He said that according to the new rules, "points will be taken into account from January, but the regulation was not published until March when there was already a difference in points between the athletes."

The FEC stated that Narváez's selection "was made at the request of the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee (EOC), on the basis of the federation's autonomy and the regulations in force."

Carapaz claimed that these criteria and the selection had been made prematurely, to Narváez's advantage. After learning of the decision and, in particular, the selection criteria for the only available slot, the Olympic champion asked the Ecuadorian Ministry of Sports to intervene in order to establish a fairer framework "completely free of any favouritism or discrimination," according to a statement.

Carapaz has always felt discriminated against. Without blaming his compatriot Narváez, he has spoken out about the injustice of his exclusion from the Ecuadorian squad, which prevented him from defending his title.

At Tokyo 2020, Carapaz and Narváez were teammates representing Ecuador. Now, the revised rules have reduced the number of places, allowing only one rider to take part in Paris 2024. Narváez and Carapaz were also teammates at Ineos in 2020, 2021 and 2022, a team Carapaz joined from Spanish team Movistar. He won the 2019 Giro d'Italia at the age of 25 with the Spanish team.

His brave and determined character in races has made him one of the most combative riders in the international peloton. His tenacity andhis style of racing took the favourites by surprise in the Tokyo 2020 race when he launched an attack that not even Wout Van Aert, who won the silver medal, was able to follow. Nor did Tadej Pogacar, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist who shared the podium with Carapaz. 

Very few can challenge Pogacar, and one of them is Carapaz, who has always chased the Slovenian when he tries to break away in races. The Ecuadorian tried to follow the 2024 Giro winner in the recent Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic. He was the only one to challenge Pogacar's dominance in the oldest of the classics.

Carapaz will be present at the Tour de France, which starts at the end of June. He has already been on the podium there. Carapaz is only the second rider in history to win Olympic gold. He has also finished on the podium at all three Grand Tours: Vuelta a España (2nd), Giro d'Italia (1st) and Tour de France (3rd).