After a few weeks of speculation, Carlos Betancur's mentor Franco Gini has confirmed that the Colombian won't do this year's Tour de France. Suffering from cytomegalovirus, he will change his focus and now target the Vuelta a Espana and the Worlds.

All year it has been the plan for Carlos Betancur to make his debut in the Tour de France but now it has been confirmed that the Colombian won't be at the start in Lyon next week. His mentor and Colombian national coach Franco Gini has told Velobike that the his star rider is suffering from cytomegalovirus and has been ruled out of the French race.

The news comes after a week of speculation after it emerged that Betancur had not returned to Europe from his native Colombia on June 3 as planned. He was set to do the Tour de Suisse but told his team that he was sick and could not do the race.

Since then, his Ag2r manager Vincent Lavenu has vented his frustration over the fact that there has been virtually no communication with the team. It is not the first time that there have been problems with their relationship as the Paris-Nice winner has often been overweight when he returned from his home in South America.

"I saw and him and spoke to him in Colombia. He's got the cytomegalovirus," Gini said. "He's working to resolve the problem and has recently spent four days in hospital. But he's not in the condition to race at the moment. He doesn’t want to race with the virus because he doesn't want to perform poorly. It sparks a temperature three or four times and day and leaves him tired."

Yesterday Lavenu told Cycling Weekly that Betancur has to return to Europe very soon if he wants to race more this season. His visa has already expired and if he is not back in Europe within a few weeks, he will have to start the administrative process from scratch.

Gini confirms that he will be back in Italy within a few weeks and that he will now focus on the Vuelta and the Worlds.

"He's spoken to the team and his agent has spoken to the team," he said. "I think he's in the right place for the best treatment but he's not able to race. It seems that they've reached an agreement that he arrives here in about 15 days and then prepares for the Vuelta a Espana instead of the Tour de France.

"I'm sure that he's such a huge talent that the team won't want to give up on him."