Portuguese Joao Almeida, dropped to the Giro after testing positive for Covid

the Portuguese Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates)fourth in general Turn aroundwill not take an exit on eighteenth stage now takes place between Borgo Valsugana and Treviso with a trip of 156 kilometers after testing positive Covid-19.

Almeida (Caldas da Rainha, 23), was in fourth place overall after the seventeenth period, 1.54 minutes behind the leader, Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz.

The Portuguese cyclist lost third place on the podium on Wednesday to Spanish Mikel Landa. Almeida was the favorite for the time trial on Sunday in Verona.

This is Covid’s second withdrawal in the 2022 Giro after Ecuadorian Jonathan Caicedo after the sixteenth period.

The UAE Emirates regretted the decline because the goals were ambitious in this Giro: to reach the podium and the white jersey of the best youth. Mauro Gianetti, team director, commented on what the loss of the Portuguese cyclist meant for the formation.

“We are very angry that Joao and the team are having a great career. Our goals are the Giro podium and the white jersey for the best young man, and we are fighting for the same goal,” he said.

Almeida suffered flu -like symptoms last night, and later, after passing the corresponding tests, he tested positive for Covid. All other team members, staff and riders, were negative.

“Almeida woke up last night with a sore throat and the test result was positive. We follow strict prevention regulations and, in addition to cleaning the environments the team uses every day (cars, buses, hotel rooms, etc.), we keep the athletes right in the air. individual room to limit very close contact, ”explains Michele De Grandi, doctor of the UAE Emirates in the Giro d’Italia.

“Despite these precautions, they clearly do not provide 100% protection, as we have seen,” Dr De Grandi concludes.