Tao Geoghegan Hart crashes out of Giro d'Italia; Pascal Ackermann wins 11th stage
Tao Geoghegan Hart crashed on a rain‐soaked road and left the Giro d'Italia on a stretcher during the 11th stage Wednesday, de‐ priving the race of another over‐ all contender three days after Remco Evenepoel tested positive for the coronavirus after reclaim‐ ing the pink jersey.
Geoghegan Hart, who won the race in 2020, stood third overall entering the stage, five seconds behind overall leader and Ineos Grenadiers teammate Geraint Thomas.
The entire Ineos team, plus Pri‐ moz Roglic, were involved in a crash with 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) to go. The team did not im‐ mediately provide a medical re‐ port on Geoghegan Hart.
While Thomas and Roglic quickly got up and got going again, Geoghegan Hart was loaded into an ambulance.
German rider Pascal Acker‐ mann won the stage in a sprint finish ahead of Jonathan Milan and Mark Cavendish.
Thomas remained two seconds ahead of Roglic, while Joao Almeida moved up to third over‐ all, 22 seconds behind.
The stage followed a lengthy 219‐kilometer (136‐mile) route from Camaiore to Tortona, with three lower‐classification climbs. Before the stage started, four teammates of Evenepoel tested positive for COVID‐19 and also pulled out.
Stage 12 on Thursday is a 179‐ kilometer (111‐mile) hill leg from Bra to Rivoli in the Pied‐ mont region that features a sec‐ ond‐category climb 30 kilometers (20 miles) before the finish.
The Giro ends in Rome on May 28th.
Four Evenepoel teammates leave Giro after testing positive for COVID
Four teammates of world champion Remco Evenepoel tested positive for the coron‐ avirus and followed the Soudal Quick‐Step leader by pulling out of the three‐week Giro d’Italia, their team said Wednesday.
Evenepoel had won Sunday's individual time trial to reclaim the leader’s pink jersey, but his team later announced that he tested positive for COVID‐19.
“Following the positive test of maglia rosa Remco Evenepoel on Sunday, a further round of tests were made on the riders and staff that remained in Italy, with Jan Hirt, Josef Cerny, Louis Ver‐ vaeke and Mattia Cattaneo un‐ fortunately unable to continue,” the Belgian team said in a state‐ ment before Wednesday's Stage 11.
Team doctor Toon Cruyt said that after Evenepoel tested posi‐ tive two more riders started to feel unwell Monday, but their antigen tests returned negative.
“Therefore a PCR test was car‐ ried out on the seven remaining riders, the results of which showed that the four guys were positive,” he said. "We will con‐ tinue to monitor and implement our testing protocol on the three riders and staff that remain at the race.”
Other riders have also had to abandon after returning positive tests for COVID‐19, including Domenico Pozzovivo and Rigob‐ erto Urán.
Former Tour de France cham‐ pion Geraint Thomas, who rides for Ineos Grenadiers, moved into the lead Sunday after pre‐race fa‐ vorite Evenepoel withdrew. Thomas has a two‐second lead over Primož Roglič.