The Tour of Italy ends prematurely for Joao Almeida. Fourth overall (1’54” from leader Richard Carapaz), the Portuguese climber was forced to retire due to a positive test for Covid-19. “He had flu-like symptoms overnight before testing positive,” explains his UAE Team Emirates team, which also specifies that the rest of the team has tested negative.
This is a big loss for the Emirati formation, which had made the Portuguese its leader on the Italian roads where he had revealed himself in 2020 (pink jersey for several days, 4th in the end). In great difficulty on Wednesday towards Lavarone (17th stage), Almeida had however shown signs of fatigue.
“We are of course saddened by the news because Joao and his team were doing an excellent job, our objective was to grab the podium and the white jersey”, regretted Mauro Gianetti, his Team Principal.
