João Almeida, fourth place on GC, leaves the Giro d’Italia with COVID-19
UAE-Emirates' Portuguese was leading best young rider competition
Photo by:
Sirotti
João Almeida lost this podium position to Mikel Landa on Wednesday’s mountain stage and then did not start Thursday’s Stage 18 after testing positive for COVID-19, his UAE-Emirates team reports. Almeida of Portugal was in fourth place when he left the race, after having come fourth and sixth in the last two seasons. He was also wearing the white jersey for best young rider; Juanpe Lopez, who led the race for 10 days, is now tops in that category.
Unfortunately @JooAlmeida98 will not start today's stage of the #Giro following a positive COVID-19 result.
“Almeida woke up last night from persistent pain in his throat and the test gave a positive result."
? Full details : https://t.co/Ijb7WR64KG#WeAreUAE pic.twitter.com/NQW0QcmRJO
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) May 26, 2022
On Tuesday Ecuadorian Jonathan Klever Caicedo of EF Education-EasyPost withdrew from the race following a COVID-19 positive.
Back in 2020, when the reduced WorldTour schedule was restarted in late August after a four and a half month recess due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mitchelton-Scott and Jumbo-Visma pulled their entire teams from the unique October Giro d’Italia after COVID-19 positives.
João Almeida is in his first season with UAE-Emirates after two years with Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl. He is slated to race the Vuelta a España alongside Tadej Pogačar in August.
