Koronin said:
Truthfully I like this better than sending him along with both Landa and Quintana to Suisse anyway.
Yes he did say he has a bit of a cold that just won't go away. However, I have a feeling if he'd have been heading to the Duaphine with Soler and Roson instead of Suisse with Landa and Quintana we'd never have heard about this little cold. Wouldn't be shocked if he just doesn't want to deal with Landa and Quintana in the same race until he absolutely has to thus the cold and a change of races. Now he can go to Sud and take it a bit easier.
I also agree with Valv.Piti that he's more focused on la Vuelta and the Worlds than the Tour anyway, so better to cut a few race days off his calendar than have him over raced for the Worlds and Lombardia like is more typical.
Temperatures in most southern regions of Spain have been down to 10 degrees Celsius below average for this season in the last days. Strong rainstorms have also been frequent, which is also very unusual in those regions at this time of the year. Whether he has been training in his home region of Murcia or in Sierra Nevada I would not discard the possibility that he's really suffering a cold and prefers going to an easier race.
I recall Contador went to Navacerrada in 2010 to prepare for the Tour after the Dauphiné and he had unusually cold and rainy weather in those mid-late June days. We all know how that ended.
Why don't they go to Tenerife? Is it because it is fully booked by other teams?