Earlier this year, Lidl-Trek confidently announced their Tour de France plans with Tao Geoghegan Hart and Mads Pedersen set for dual leadership and Giulio Ciccone to be given a free role to hunt for stages and King of the Mountains points. Now though, those plans are at risk.
Firstly, Geoghegan Hart abandoned the Criterium du Dauphine after not being able to fully recover from his injuries in the mass crash that brought stage 5 to complete halt. To make matters worse for the former Giro d'Italia winner, the Brit then tested positive for covid-19.
"One of the questions journalists always ask is what we miss when travelling on the road. I guess they think it’ll make the oddities of sitting atop a mountain or racing across an entire country seem a little more relatable to their reader. I always say I miss buying fresh groceries and cooking. Even the simple decision of actually choosing what to have for lunch and dinner. This week has seen plenty of time for that, with zero bike riding and five days of Covid positive," Geoghegan Hart writes in a post on his official Instagram account. "I thought those days were long gone but unfortunately I’ve been super sick."
On Sunday, Ciccone too posted a post-Criterium du Dauphine update to his Instagram. The Italian fared a little better than Geoghegan Hart in France, completing the race to finish 8th overall. Afterwards however, Ciccone also felt the effects of being under the weather, not ideal preparation for the upcoming Tour de France, especially having already been forced to miss the Giro d'Italia earlier this year.
"A return home after the Criterium du Dauphine not quite what I expected. The flu got the better of me and since Friday I can't train..." Ciccone explains. "The hope now is to get better as soon as possible and recover for the Italian championships."
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