"Continuing the Giro d'Italia is not an option" - Visma exclude Covid-19 outbreak but could not 'responsibly' keep Kooij and Uijtdebroeks in competition

A virus has been moving throughout the Giro d'Italia peloton and this is already visible within several teams. Team Visma | Lease a Bike is perhaps the worst affected as in the matter of 24 hours both leaders Olav Kooij and Cian Uijtdebroeks were forced to abandon the race; but the team confirms it is not Covid-19.

“There is certainly no question of corona within our team. We still apply the same strict corona protocol as in recent years, with everyone in the team being tested every day," a team spokesperson shared with Wielerflits. "When someone has corona, we immediately notice it and intervene immediately. That is not the case now.”

Instead, a different respiratory virus that quickly and intensely spread throughout the team, taking out the team's two leaders - whilst Christophe Laporte was forced to abandon shortly before due to injuries suffered in a crash. “For Olav Kooij, this started the day before the rest day. The morning after his victory in Naples, he was diagnosed with a fever, which made further riding irresponsible."

"This was much to the disappointment of Olav, who absolutely wanted to complete his first Grand Tour," Visma tell. For Cian Uijtdebroeks, who revealed he was ill at the end of stage 10, the situation deteriorated in the same form: “It has gotten worse little by little in recent days. An increase has now also been measured for him, which means that continuing the Giro d'Italia is not an option."