A hard day that some riders won't ever forget 😱
Join the peloton as they tackled one of the toughest stages of the race so far 🥶
Watch the full on-bike highlights on @RoadCode👇🏼https://t.co/x2yvXy6iuq
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🇮🇹 #Giropic.twitter.com/ezA65ayxYU— Velon CC (@VelonCC) May 16, 2023
NOT a fun day to be on the bike riding around Italy...
On Strava, British pro Charlie Quarterman left his review short and snappy... "S***", Frenchman Alexis Baudin calling it "a day in hell". His Wahoo measured a low temperature of 1°C atop the 1,500m high point of the stage. Descending that soaked to the core must have been grim...
This giro is mental game 🥵
Just trying to stay on the bike when you are freaking cold
In other races you would abandon but this is the giro!!
The show must go on 🥶🥶🥶💗 pic.twitter.com/EgJCGvRMvL— arne marit (@ArneMarit) May 16, 2023
Team DSM's Marius Mayrhofer called it "the hardest day of racing of my life"...
"Today was a really extreme stage — really cold and quite bad vision throughout the day. It was the hardest day of racing of my life. We were quite active in the beginning and just missed out on the group," he said afterwards.
But, it's not all bad... it probably felt like mid-summer for Cork-born Eddie Dunbar...
Been just like riding back home for the first week here ☔️ At least I’m used to it 👌 Happy to move into the top 10 today. Long way to go #Giropic.twitter.com/UMYLxn2zIi
— Eddie Dunbar (@EddieDunbar) May 16, 2023
There's more to life than 'cyclists dismount' signs...
With cyclists able to get through many road closures, @OxfordshireCC has now adapted its signs to show when this is permitted and possible.@cycloxoxford@CUKOxfordshire@activetravelcaf@RantyHighwaymanpic.twitter.com/AbCluYDaXR
— Oxfordshire Cycling Network (@OxonCyclingNet) May 16, 2023
[📷: RCS]
Two more riders who won't start today's stage are Natnael Tesfatsion and Jonathan Caicedo. Trek-Segafredo said Tesfatsion had woken up with flu symptoms, while Caicedo has a "non-COVID viral illness".
We're up to six confirmed Covid abandons at the Giro so far this morning, AG2R Citroën and Team Corratec - Selle Italia confirming that Andrea Vendrame and Stefano Gandin will leave the race ahead of stage 11...
Elsewhere on the illness/injury front, it remains to be seen if Warren Barguil can start today, the Frenchman caught up in a crash yesterday, his team saying they will "see according to the evolution of the pain during the night".
> Giro d'Italia crash chaos as furious Alberto Bettiol taken out by staff member running across road
With another couple of hours until the stage start in Camaiore, we wouldn't bet on those being the last abandons this morning. In total, 13 riders failed to start or finish yesterday's stage. We're already up to six ahead of today's, just 144 riders left for the second and third week and 32 abandons since last weekend.
Erm guys, we might have a problem...
Our team is disappointed to announce that four more riders from its #Giro squad have tested positive for Covid-19 and will leave the race.
Read more about it, here: https://t.co/PdOfCZ7QTI
Photo: @GettySportpic.twitter.com/rI4tN6EOy2
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) May 17, 2023
Following on from their team leader's Covid positive on Sunday, a further round of testing for the entire Soudal Quick-Step team and staff resulted in Jan Hirt, Josef Cerny, Louis Vervaeke and Mattia Cattaneo all testing positive.
By my very basic maths, that leaves them with THREE riders for the remaining week and a half... Davide Ballerini, Pieter Serry, Ilan Van Wilder... good luck, fellas...
Team doctor Toon Cruyt said: "After the positive of Remco on Sunday evening, we had two more riders who were feeling unwell on Monday morning, but were negative on antigen tests.
"Therefore a PCR test was carried out on the seven remaining riders, the results of which showed that the four guys were positive. We will continue to monitor and implement our testing protocol on the three riders and staff that remain at the race."