Alessandro Covi is the newest to be added to the lengthy record of Giro d’Italia abandons, with the UAE Staff Emirates rider falling within the crash involving Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) on stage 11.
Covi nonetheless made it by means of to the end line, virtually 11 minutes down on his teammate Pascal Ackermann, who gained the stage.
Nonetheless, he was then taken to hospital for additional checks and the group mentioned he wouldn’t begin stage 12.
“Alessandro sustained a potential fracture to his sacrum and can be unable to proceed on this Giro. He’ll return house for definitive imaging,” mentioned UAE Staff Emirates group physician Jason Suter in an announcement.
Covi seemed to be the primary rider to go down within the crash on moist roads at almost 70km from the top of the 219km stage to Tortona. The crash proper close to the entrance of the bunch additionally concerned race chief Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and the second-placed Jumbo-Visma rider Primož Roglič, who each continued on.
Geoghegan Hart, who had been third general firstly of the stage, wasn’t so lucky. The Ineos Grenadiers rider, who crashed independently of Covi, could not experience on, leaving the race to later uncover he had fractured his hip. Teammate Pavel Sivakov additionally got here down, using on to the end line, even additional again than Covi.
Covi’s departure means UAE Staff Emirates are actually one rider down as they work to assist João Almeida in pursuit of the maglia rosa. With Geoghegan Hart out, Almeida has now shifted as much as third spot, whereas Jay Vine had seen any GC hopes evaporate on stage 10.
Nonetheless, UAE Staff Emirates are in a comparatively sturdy place with regards to numbers, with the mix of COVID-19, crashes and different sickness having had a big impact on the peloton. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) is the best profile of the departures, having left whereas sporting pink after testing constructive to COVID-19, however he is only one of an extended record of withdrawals as a result of coronavirus.
4 of his teammates have been additionally out by the beginning of stage 11, whereas Rigoberto Urán (EF Training-EasyPost) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech) additionally did not resume racing after the remainder day and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) left forward of stage 8.
Roglič’s Jumbo-Visma are one in every of simply three groups at full power as, regardless of having a torrid run-in with COVID-19 withdrawals and last-minute adjustments attributable to crashes, the group have up to now managed to keep away from any abandons.
