No new positive case was revealed by more than five hundred additional coronavirus tests among Gira d’Italia participants. Before the start of today’s 34.1 km individual time trial, the representatives of the RCS organizing company announced the negative results of all samples taken among cyclists, members of the stables and their entourage.
Portuguese Joao Almeida can still feed his hopes for an overall victory at the Giro d´Italia.
Massimo Paolone, ČTK / AP
The race management decided to include an extraordinary round of checks after eight people, including stars Michael Matthews and Steven Kruijswijk, had tested positive in regular tests on free Monday and had to leave the Giro. The complete stables of Mitchelton-Scott and Kruijswijk’s Jumbo-Visma also resigned.
In the peloton and among the team representatives, nervousness began to increase due to fears of infection, cyclists also complained about the insufficiently secured “bubble”. The EF Pro Cycling team even sent an official request to the race management and the UCI to terminate the Giro prematurely after Sunday’s stage. But the proposal did not pass.
A total of 512 people underwent extraordinary saliva tests for the presence of antibodies. Another regular check-up awaits the competitors during Monday’s day off.
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