The top favorite is no longer included. A few hours after his second stage victory and jumping to first place in the overall standings, professional cyclist Remco Evenepoel had to withdraw from the Giro d’Italia.
Like his team on Sunday evening (May 14th, 2023), a corona infection was detected in the 23-year-old Belgian.
“As part of the routine in our team, I underwent a test, which unfortunately came out positive. I was looking forward to racing here for the next two weeks,” said Evenepoel. It is the fifth Corona case of the current Giro, even before the race some drivers had decided not to start after testing positive.
A few hours earlier, the Belgian had won stage 9 and regained the overall leader’s pink jersey. Evenepoel was 45 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas. With the 23-year-old leaving, Thomas slips into the pink jersey and the German Lennard Kämna moves up to eighth place in the overall standings.