Marc Madiot after Remco Evenepoel's early departure: "It's no longer the same Giro d'Italia"

This first week of Giro d'Italia was marked by many twists and turns. Marc Madiot, manager general of the Groupama-FDJ team talked to Cyclism'Actu about events of last days as well as his team's performances and ambitions.

Madiot thinks that there's a reason to be careful: "No, we're not being too careful. Because when you ride a bike, you appeal to the respiratory qualities and the beating of the heart. And we know that at the heart level there are repercussions with this virus, this is the reason why we take more precautions."

"It's no longer the same Giro d'Italia, but there we ask ourselves the question because it's Evenepoel and the Giro," Madiot confirms that the race lost some of its appeal. "But imagine last year on the Tour de France, if Vingegaard found himself in this situation, we would have the same reactions. It is not because you wear pink jersey or yellow jersey that you cannot have the Covid."

Thibaut Pinot has been confirmed to be a bit sick, but Madiot assures that it's not Covid: "It has been tested and retested. I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't have it and that he recovers quickly, so that he is one of the main players in the last mountainous part of the Giro."

Madiot returns to bittersweet stage 9 ITT, where Stefan Küng and Bruno Armirail finished 4th and 5th respectively: "At the same time satisfaction and disappointment, since it was just 4 and 8 seconds, it is a short moment yet a lot of time. Then the weather conditions were a little fluctuating... but that's life, that's how it is."