Ninth Corona case
Leading Evenepoel has to abandon Giro d’Italia
05/15/2023 01:32 am
Many had put Remco Evenepoel as a favorite at the Giro d’Italia – but the tour goes into the second week without the Belgian cycling talent. A few hours after the 23-year-old regained the pink jersey in the individual time trial, he tested positive for Corona.
The jubilation was followed by the terrible news: cycling world champion Remco Evenepoel has to bury his dream of winning the Giro d’Italia early – the corona virus is slowing down the shooting star from the Soudal-Quick Step team. “I’m really sorry that I’m going to leave the race. As part of the team protocol, I did a routine test, which unfortunately was positive,” said Evenepoel late on Sunday evening.
The Belgian had celebrated a narrow victory in the fight against the clock just hours earlier on the ninth stage and had flown back into the pink jersey of the overall leader. Evenepoel won the next rain battle at the Tour of Italy and secured victory in the individual time trial with a wafer-thin lead after losing time the day before.
But the joy didn’t last long. “My experience here was really special and I was looking forward to competing in the next two weeks,” said Evenepoel, adding that he “can’t thank the team and the riders who have sacrificed so much in preparation for the Giro Thank you enough. I’ll be cheering for them over the next two weeks.” The Belgian will start the journey home in the car on Monday, the tests of all other team members were negative.
This increases concerns about the corona virus in the field of drivers. Evenepoel is the ninth Corona case on this tour, including two-time time trial world champion Filippo Ganna from the top team Ineos Grenadiers who had to end the race.
Kämna moves up to eighth place
In the afternoon, the top Belgian favorite rolled off the ramp in a highly motivated manner. At the first split, the Vuelta winner was clearly in the lead, but then had to pay tribute to his high initial pace. In the end, he saved just a second’s lead over second-placed Briton Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) – third went to his compatriot and team-mate Tao Geoghegan Hart, two seconds back.
After the end of the big favorite everything is open again, the new overall leader is now called Thomas. Germany’s hopeful Lennard Kämna, who is taking part in the Giro this year with ambitions in the overall standings for the first time and is aiming for a top 10 placement, moves up to eighth place in the overall standings. The German time trial champion left the track about half an hour before Evenepoel and showed a good performance. In the end, the 26-year-old ended up twelfth on the day (+0.51 minutes).
The second of three individual time trials of this year’s Giro was the longest and clearly the lightest in profile. The 164 remaining drivers rolled over 35 flat kilometers through the again completely rained-out Adriatic region of Emilia-Romagna.
The day before Evenepoel had lost time to his opponent Primosz Roglic from Jumbo Visma for the first time. Towards the end of the moderately difficult eighth stage to Fossombrone, the co-favorite attacked on a steep climb and, among other things, gained 14 seconds on Evenepoel alongside ex-Tour winner Thomas.
Kämna did not manage his strength well towards the end of the race, also had to give up and finished 34 seconds behind Roglic. “I was a little over-excited in the last ten kilometers because I felt really good. That’s why I went into the mountain too quickly,” he said afterwards. The day’s victory on Saturday went to the Irishman Ben Healy, who crowned an impressive solo run around five minutes before the favorites crossed the finish line.
On Monday there is a rest day before the three-week Giro starts the tricky second week. Although without Evenepoel, but with the fear of the corona virus in the peloton.