Two days before the start of the 2023 Giro d’Italia, Covid-19 is again plaguing the peloton with several riders testing positive and forced to retire, especially in Primoz Roglic’s team, the Jumbo-Visma team. This Thursday the Dutch team announced the third positive case of Jos van Emden.
Van Emden was one of the two riders, along with Rohan Dennis, called up the previous day to make up for the absence of Robert Gesink and Tobias Foss, who were affected by the coronavirus.
Van Emden will be replaced by Sam Oomen, but this is a new blow for the favorite Primoz Roglic, who has been deprived of some of his lieutenants and is also not starting the Giro in the best conditions.
“Obviously it’s not perfect. But we will face it and find solutions,” said the Slovenian leader, who is expected on Italian roads, as well as Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step).
“We will do everything to stay healthy and get to the end of the three weeks. We also need a bit of luck,” he added.
After the race was cut short since the beginning of the epidemic at the beginning of 2020 and now that a relative return to normal has entered, Covid-19 seems to have risen again in the cycling peloton in recent weeks.
And because of the saying ‘when you see your neighbor’s beard shaved, soak yours’, Belgian Remco Evenepoel insisted in a virtual press conference that “it’s always scary to see that many runners are left behind due to illness, especially. Covid -19. I think we will do what we did in the last Vuelta, wear a mask, be more careful, wash our hands more often to avoid the spread of the virus.”
“The loss of some riders in the peloton should be a message to everyone, that we should all be careful, that the virus is still there. That is for the riders, the team managers or the journalists. Wear mask when I see you on Saturday.” , was declared the leader of Soudal-Quick Step.
Jumbo-Visma is not the only equipment affected. On Thursday, the Bahrain team announced the departure of one of its leaders, Swiss rider Gino Mäder, who had already experienced the same thing before the last Tour de France.
Like Robert Gesink and Tobias Foss, Mäder participated in the Tour de Romandie last week. Seventh in the general classification in Switzerland, Frenchman Romain Bardet, who did not plan to run the Giro, is also “covid”, he announced on his Instagram.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
