Illnesses decimate Cofidis at 2024 Tour de France - Jesús Herrada the third rider to abandon in 48 hours

It is not being the Tour de Francefor Cofidis. Third withdrawal in two days.. After Ion Izagirre and Alexis Renard went home during stage 11, today Jesus Herrada will not be able to start the thirteenth stage also due to illness.

The rider from La Mancha, stage winner in the last two editions of the Vuelta a España, hoped to begin to shine in the race in the high mountains, dreaming of a partial victory in a breakaway. However, his joy in a well: he is going home, as announced by his own team:

"Sick for several days and weakened, Jesús Herrada will not start today. The whole team wishes him a speedy recovery". This comes as another hit for the team that managed to win two stages and have a brilliant Tour last year, but is simply not being able to replicate it this time around.

It is clear that some virus is affecting some teams like the aforementioned Cofidis or Bahrain Victorious, which yesterday for example also lost Pello Bilbao and saw Fred Wright arrive out of control a few days ago. It is not known whether this is the result of Covid-19 as some hint around the race, but what is clear is that it's doing a lot of damage to the race. Bad luck for the French team, who have lost three of the men who had the best chances of winning a stage.

Back to Spain?

We'll see if the Spaniard can now recover to ride the Vuelta a España to salvage a season in which he was very excited about the prospect of capping his successful career with a Tour victory. The French team's hopes in the race now will rely on chasing a stage win mostly with Guillaume Martin in the many remaining mountain stages, or perhaps a surprise from Bryan Coquard in the two remaining sprint stages.