Giro hit by virus positives
Sagan wins 10th stage as Mitchelton-Scott and Jumbo-Visma teams withdraw
TORTORETO, Italy, Oct 13, (AP): Peter Sagan won the hilly 10th stage of the Giro d’Italia, which was contested Tuesday despite two teams withdrawing from the race because of coronavirus cases.
Sagan, a three-time world champion who is racing the Giro for the first time, was desperate for a win after three second-place results in the race. He now has won stages in all three Grand Tours – the Giro (1), Tour de France (12) and Spanish Vuelta (4).
And the Slovakian rider did it in style on Tuesday, getting into an early breakaway and then launching a solo uphill attack in the final stages on roads made treacherous by rain. It was Sagan’s first win of the season.
“Finally I won in my style – with a show,” Sagan said.
Portuguese rider João Almeida held onto the overall leader’s pink jersey.
The race was disrupted before the stage when the Mitchelton-Scott and Jumbo-Visma teams withdrew.
Four Mitchelton-Scott staff members tested positive for the coronavirus. That came after Mitchelton-Scott team leader Simon Yates withdrew before Saturday’s eighth stage after also contracting COVID-19.
Dutch contender Steven Kruijswijk of Jumbo-Visma and Australian rider Michael Matthews of Team Sunweb also tested positive amid 571 exams for all riders and staff members coinciding with Monday’s rest day.
Kruijswijk, Matthews and Mitchelton-Scott were withdrawn from the event in accordance with race organizers. Jumbo-Visma then announced minutes before the stage started that it was withdrawing the rest of its team, too.
But the stage started as scheduled and Sagan needed just over four hours to complete the 177-kilometer (110mile) leg from Lanciano to Tortoreto
CYCLING
in the central Abruzzo region.
Sagan got into an early seven-man breakaway that also featured time trial world champion Filippo Ganna. He then attacked Ben Swift – the only other remaining member of the breakaway – with 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to go.
American rider Brandon McNulty crossed second, 19 seconds behind, and Almeida was third to lead the main pack, 23 seconds behind.
Almeida leads Wilco Kelderman by 34 seconds and Pello Bilbao by 43 seconds.
Stage 11 on Wednesday is a mostly flat 182-kilometer (113-mile) leg from Porto Sant’Elpidio to Rimini along the Adriatic coast that sets up well for sprinters.
The race was rescheduled from its usual May slot because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Giro ends on Oct 25 with an individual time trial in Milan.
“Clearly we’re losing key pieces of the Giro. The important thing now is to reach Milan,” race director Mauro Vegni said, referring to the scheduled finish of the event on Oct 25.
“We all have been in contact with (Kruijswijk) for the past days,” Jumbo-Visma sports director Addy Engels told RAI state TV. “So the risk of passing it through to someone else has been there for several days. We are not going to keep taking the risk.”
In addition, one staff member for the Ineos Grenadiers team and one staff member for AG2R-La Mondiale came back positive and were put into isolation.
Still, Vegni rejected speculation that the race might be stopped prematurely.
“It’s like in normal life, the more tests you do the easier it is to find positives. The number (of positives) is still relatively low. We’re optimistic,” Vegni said. “At this point there’s zero risk, because I don’t see elements that would require the Giro to be stopped.”
Italy has been hovering around 5,000 new coronavirus cases per day, prompting the government to consider more restrictions after making masks mandatory outdoors last week.
The Giro was already rescheduled from its usual May slot because of the coronavirus pandemic. Stage 10 was being raced in the central Abruzzo region, over a 177-kilometer (110-mile) leg from Lanciano to Tortoreto.