Carlos Betancur is set to make his debut in the Tour de France this summer but he hasn't returned to Europe as planned and will miss the Tour de Suisse later this week. If he doesn't arrive in Europe very soon, visa problems put the rest of his season in doubt.

Carlos Betancur has proved that he is an outstanding bike rider but it is no secret that his Ag2r La Mondiale team have had difficulty controlling the talented Colombian. Often he has been overweight when he returned from Colombia and last year he was a shadow of his former self for much of the second half of the season after having spent the summer at home.

This week it has attracted a lot of attention that Betancur didn't take his flight to Europe as planned and as a consequence he will miss the Tour de Suisse. His team and trainer have had difficulty contacting their rider and now manager Vincent Lavenu reveals that Betancur needs to return to Europe very soon if he wants to do any more racing in Europe this season.

His visa expired last Thursday but he may still have the possibility to travel to France. Very soon, however, he will have to start the whole administrative process from scratch and this could mean that he will miss his Tour de France debut and maybe even the rest of the season.

“It’s annoying,” Lavenu told Cycling Weekly, “there’s always problems with him.

“It pushes everything back. We can get an extension with the French, but if he doesn’t show up by the end of the month, we have to start everything over again in Colombia. It’s put his whole season in doubt.
 

“Every situation is different, every rider’s different, but it’s true that one of the hardest things with Carlos is that he’s attached to his home and he always wants to go home early to stay as long as possible. Staying in Europe has always been difficult for him.

“We communicate a lot with him but don’t get much in return, that’s very frustrating. He didn’t take his plane, he said that he didn’t feel good and wouldn’t get on the plane, but at that point, you are dealing with something that already happened. That’s not the way it should work, you should know beforehand. You just don’t not get on the plane and not tell anyone.”