106th edition of special examination that trip to italy It continued on Wednesday with new cases of Covid and Abandonment due to the fall of the British Tao Geoghegan Heart (Inios), who was third in the general classification, on another day with accidents due to rain and slippery surfaces, in which German Pascal Ackermann wins the sprint (UAE), between Camaiore and Tortona after 219 kms.
Accustomed to suffering and pain in an often brutal sport, cyclists get a double helpings at this Giro. With carefree weather, The Italian race has been transformed into a mobile field hospital Which does not stop filling every day, as falls and diseases increase.
Arriving midway through the race, 36 competitors had already left. And given the state of the peloton, which continues to be at risk from COVID-19 and with many riders suffering from digestive issues, Wouldn’t be surprised if absentee record is broken upon arrival in Rome Next May 28, last day.
Belgian team Soudal-Quick Step, which saw how Remko Evenpoel had to leave after testing positive for Covid on Sunday night, Just hours after winning the time trial and dressing in pink again, they faced the ravages of the coronavirus again, with four new dropouts: Jan Hurt, Josef Cerny, Louis Verveke and Matteo Cattane. Italians Andrea Vendramé (AG2R-Citroen) and Stefano Gandin (Corratec) also had to skip the test, increasing the list of cyclists who have said goodbye due to Covid to fifteen.
“The atmosphere in the team is below zero. We only have three riders left, it’s really sad.” One of the survivors of the Belgian formation remarked, peter seery, For whom the fall is becoming infinite.
However on a sporting level, the big victim of the day was another team: Ineos. All was smiling on the mighty British formation… until this Wednesday. The stage started with five riders in the top eleven including the leader Geraint Thomas. And he was about to lose everything.
With 68 km to go in Tortona, Italian Alessandro Covi from the United Arab Emirates went to the ground when he slipped on the rain-soaked asphalt and took half the Ineos team in his fall, including Thomas and the Slovenian primrose sick (Jumbo-Visma). After the return of Evenpoel the ‘pink jersey’ and the main contender for victory was able to resume the march without physical damage, but it was not Tao Geoghegan Hart, who was five seconds behind Thomas overall, was carried off on a stretcher and left lying on the ground before being evacuated by an ambulance.
“(Tao) was right behind him (De Cowie) and took everyone out, but it’s not his fault,” Thomas explained. “I’ve been lucky, I fell on him. But Tao has taken a lot of damage. I hope nothing is broken. It’s a huge loss for us. He was in fantastic shape and he was our secret weapon. ” Earlier in the night, the team revealed via a statement that Geoghegan Hart suffered He has fractured his left hip, for which he will have to undergo surgery. A few kilometers later was the Spanish Óscar Rodríguez of the Movistar Team, who retired after hitting a pole and suffering a kidney injury in the umpteenth accident of this Giro.
The abandonment of Geoghegan Hart, the only remaining Giro winner in the race, dealt a hard blow to Ineos and Thomas, who had thought the team had the strength to beat Roglic. Even more so when Russian Pavel Shivkov (eighth overall at the start of the day) was also involved in a crash and lost several minutes.
Colombian Fernando Gaviria, Meanwhile, “he has no fractures” and “suffered multiple superficial injuries.” The medical report does not reflect what it was like to see him with immobility in the hand, driving with one hand and almost pale.
In the midst of so much misfortune Wednesday there was one happy man: Pascal Ackermann. The sprinter prevailed in a tight sprint in a small group over Italian Jonathan Milan (Bahrain) and British Mark Cavendish (Astana). “It was very fair, but I’m very happy”, declared the winner of the day.
As he celebrated on the podium, the rest of the peloton was more concerned with healing his wounds and praying that Covid would pass him by. “And to think we haven’t tackled the mountain yet…”, Australian Sinom Clarke sighed.
Already on Tuesday, in another day of many accidents, the race had experienced an unbelievable situation when a helper crossed the road to look at one of the injured runners and another fell who had been thrown.
On Thursday, the 12th stage will cover 179 kilometers between Bra and Rivoli in the Piedmont region and include a second category climb, with 30 kilometers of climbing. The number of cyclists that will be in the sport is a question mark.
