Treviso (dpa) – Emanuel Buchmann has climbed a place in the overall ranking of the Giro d’Italia due to the corona infection of podium contender Joao Almeida.
Before the last two mountain stages and the final time trial of the 105th edition, the 29-year-old is in seventh place, but is 7:13 minutes behind leader Richard Carapaz from Ecuador. Buchmann’s Australian colleague from the Bora-hansgrohe team, Jai Hindley, is second overall and only three seconds behind Carapaz.
Dries de Bondt won the 18th stage. In the sprint of a four-man breakaway after 156 kilometers in Treviso, the Belgian prevailed in front of the Italian Edoardo Affini and Magnus Cort from Denmark. Almeida had to give up the race in the morning after the 23-year-old had tested positive for the corona virus. This was confirmed by his team UAE. At the time, the Portuguese was fourth in the overall standings, and due to his time trial qualities he was considered a serious candidate for the podium.
On Wednesday, Buchmann lost a good two and a half minutes to Carapaz and Co. on the difficult mountain stage to Lavarone. With a deficit of more than six minutes to third Mikel Landa of Spain, a place on the podium is almost impossible to achieve. The penultimate mountain finish is scheduled for Friday in Santuario di Castelmonte, which could lead to further shifts in the overall standings.