Joaquim Rodriguez will not be on the start line of the Volta a Catalunya on Monday due to a stomach virus. 

"Much to my dismay, a stomach virus has taken me out of the Volta," the Katusha leader tweeted. The Catalan climber, the winner of the race in 2014 and 2010, hopes to be back as soon as possible. "I hope to recover and do the Vuelta al Pais Vasco" he wrote. "Lucky me," he added.

Giampaolo Caruso, Sergei Chernetckii, Pavel Kochetkov, Egor Silin, Iurii Trofimov, Eduard Vorganov an Anton Vorobyev are the seven remaining riders on the Katusha roster. His replacement has been announced.

Rodriguez has had 16 days of competition after three stage races: Dubai Tour (27th), Tour of Oman (66th) and Tirreno-Adriatico (13th). In the Italian race, he showed signs of form as he was third in the two hardest stages.

Now he has decided to include the Vuelta al Pais Vasco (April 6-11) instead of the Catalonian race to reach the his best condition for the Ardennes classics, Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, his first big goal of the season. Then he will focus on preparing for the Tour de France.

Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Alejandro Valverde, Rigoberto Uran, Tejay van Garderen, Fabio Aru, Dan Martin, Andrew Talansky, Samuel Sanchez, Rafal Majka and Romain Bardet are some of the main contenders in the Volta.