Tour of Italy
The eleventh and at 219 kilometers longest stage of the 106th Giro d’Italia was overshadowed by serious falls on Wednesday. On the section from Camaiore to Tortona, Brit Tao Geoghegan Hart, third in the overall standings, fell and had to be taken to hospital with a broken hip. The Spaniard Oscar Rodriguez crashed into a house wall after a descent and was also taken to a hospital.
Pascal Ackermann clinched the day’s victory, the German prevailed after 5:09:02 hours in the sprint ahead of Italy’s Jonathan Milan and Britain’s Mark Cavendish. “It was very nerve wracking. I used Mark Cavendish’s rear wheel as a guide. It was so tight. I’m just happy that I was able to show that I’m still here,” said the 29-year-old after his first win of the season.
Despite a fall, Geraint Thomas is still the overall leader. The Welshman remains two seconds ahead of Slovenian Primoz Roglic. Austrian Patrick Konrad, like Thomas and Roglic, crossed the finish line at the same time as Ackermann and is now 16th in the overall standings, a further 8:43 minutes behind.
Ackermann wins Giro stage
In the eleventh and longest stage of the Giro d’Italia, the German Pascal Ackermann was able to win the day by a hair’s breadth. Despite a fall, Geraint Thomas continues to lead the overall standings. Several other drivers also fell, some seriously.
Thomas brings down Geoghegan Hart
About 70 kilometers from the finish, the race for the next favorite for overall victory was involuntarily over. Leader Thomas fell, causing his third-placed Ineos Grenadiers teammate Geoghegan Hart to fall as well.
The 28-year-old 2020 Giro winner fell hard on his left side and was transported by ambulance to Genoa hospital. There, a fracture of the left hip was diagnosed, which requires surgery. Thomas, on the other hand, was able to continue like Roglic, who had also fallen to the ground.
A short time later, Rodriguez lost control of his bike on a wet downhill stretch. The 28-year-old touched a traffic sign and crashed into a house wall, but was conscious afterwards. Still, going on was unthinkable.
Number of CoV cases further increased
On Sunday, Remco Evenepoel, who was overall leader at the time, left the race because of a positive CoV test. On Wednesday, the Belgian road world champion’s Soudal-QuickStep team reported four more cases. The Czechs Jan Hirt and Josef Cerny, the Belgian Louis Vervaeke and the Italian Mattia Cattaneo tested positive for the corona virus.
The Italian Andrea Vendrame from the AG2R team had to give up with Covid-19, and his compatriot Stefano Gandin from the Corratec team. A total of 15 riders have already left the Giro due to CoV infections.
Giro d’Italia 2023
2023-05-17 16:25:58
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