João Almeida out of Giro d'Italia due to Covid-19

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) is out of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday morning and has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 following stage 17.

Mauro Gianetti, general manager of UAE Team Emirates, confirmed before Thursday's sprint stage. "Almeida woke up last night from a persistent pain in his throat and the test gave a positive result." We observe strict rules of prevention and, in addition to sanitizing the environments that the team uses each day (cars, buses, hotel rooms, etc.), we keep the athletes themselves in single rooms in order to limit very close contact. However, despite these precautions, they clearly do not provide 100% shelter as we have seen, "said Michele De Grandi, UAE Team Emirates doctor at the Giro d’Italia.

After loosing 1:10 to Maglia Rosa the previous day, the Portuguese rider fourth position in the general classification. Almeida lost some time however remained in contention for the podium - and perhaps the win - after stage 17 which saw the GC implode once again en route to Lavarone.