Giro d'Italia faces cancellation after five teams hit by coronavirus cases

Mitchelton-Scott team withdraw after four staff members test positive

The Mitchelton-Scott team withdrew before Stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia after four of its staff members tested positive. That came after Mitchelton-Scott team leader Simon Yates withdrew before Saturday’s eighth stage after also contracting Covid-19. APShow less

The Giro d'Italia was on the brink of cancellation on Tuesday after five teams were hit by coronavirus cases on the first rest day of the three-week grand tour with almost two weeks left until the finish in Milan.

The Mitchelton-Scott team withdrew from the race after four staff members tested positive for Covid-19 following top rider Simon Yates pulling out last week.

A rider from Jumbo-Visma, a Team Sunweb rider, one staff member from Ineos-Grenadiers and AG2R-La Mondiale also returned positive tests, organisers RCS said.

RCS, in a joint statement with the International Cycling Union (UCI), said the teams' doctors had ordered "isolation measures".

Sunweb said Australian Michael Matthews had tested positive and was asymptomatic, with Jumbo-Visma saying on Twitter their rider Steven Kruijswijk had returned a positive result and would leave the race.

Mitchelton-Scott said the team were notified of the four positive results for staff members from tests done on Sunday.

"Unfortunately, we received the news on Monday evening that we have returned a number of positive Covid-19 results to members of our staff after our third round of tests in three days," the team's general manager Brent Copeland said.

"As a social responsibility to our riders and staff, the peloton and the race organisation we have made the clear decision to withdraw from the Giro d'Italia.

"Thankfully, those impacted remain asymptomatic or with mild symptoms."

Yates, who like Kruijswijk had been among the pre-race favourites, withdrew on Saturday after testing positive for the virus.

Riders in the Giro stay in a biosecure bubble when not on the road, just as they did for the Tour de France, which finished on September 20.

At the Tour de France, two positive tests in a team within one week would have triggered the ejection of the outfit from the race but no such rule was put in place for the Italian grand tour, which started in Sicily on October 3.

Dutchman Jos van Emden of Jumbo-Visma criticised the organisation, saying the bubble was not secure enough.

"The other day we were in there with four or five teams... but in that particular hotel we were in, the neutral service, the police on motorbikes were there, just normal people were there and they were all eating from the same buffet so I think it was a real big mistake," Van Emden told The Cycling Podcast on Monday.

"I heard from a guy from [Deceuninck] Quick Step they had exactly the same, this guy sent me a movie from their dining hall and also Mitchelton-Scott were there..."

Italy, which hosted the rescheduled world championships last month, has seen a recent rise in coronavirus cases, with a post-lockdown record 5,456 people infected registered last Saturday.

Elite racing resumed in August after a four-and-a-half month hiatus. However, the resurgence of Covid-19 in Europe has forced local authorities and organisers to cancel races, such as the Netherlands’ Amstel Gold Race, which had been scheduled for Saturday, and Paris-Roubaix.