On Sunday, 185 passengers were scheduled to board a special "sports flight" from Bogota, Colombia to Madrid, Spain, but as the gates to the jetway closed, there was only one conspicuous absentee: Movistar's Carlos Betancourt.

The 30-year-old was scheduled to start at Strade Bianche, where the WorldTour resumes on August 1, and will be part of a mostly Italian program through October's Giro d'Italia. His season is in jeopardy now that Colombia has extended its ban on international travel through August 31.

According to the Zikloland (opens in new tab) website, flights waited until the last minute for Betancourt to arrive, but he did not make the flight, citing a family emergency. Betancourt posted a tribute to the deceased on his Instagram story late Tuesday.

The sports flight was Colombia's answer to closure measures implemented to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, which has killed more than 7,000 people in Colombia and the daily case count has been rising all summer. The three athletes who were scheduled to board the flight had no symptoms, but were not allowed to travel because they tested positive for the virus.

Colombia has been banned from traveling abroad since March 23 and is not on the list of countries to which the EU allows non-essential travel. However, Spain has made an exception for athletes, and on Monday welcomed a mixed flight of Colombian athletes.

The flight cancellation comes at an inopportune time for Betancourt, whose contract with Movistar has come to an end; the 2013 Giro d'Italia best young rider award winner finished fifth behind Vincenzo Nibali and was once a major contender for the Grand Tour. He won Paris-Nice in 2014, but the following year he was involved in a contract dispute with AG2R La Mondiale and terminated his contract with the French team 14 months early; he moved to Movistar in 2016 and has been with the Spanish WorldTour team ever since.

In 2018, after finishing 15th in the Giro d'Italia, he was threatened with a mid-season move to UAE team Emirates, which did not happen. Betancourt did not compete in the Grand Tour in 2019, but renewed his contract with the team for 2020.

He has three one-day races in August, Milan-Torino, Gran Piemonte, and Il Lombardia; in September, Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Flèche Wallonne; and in October, Giro d'Italia in October.