Simon Yates finished Friday’s stage with a fever. A rapid test for Covid-19 came back positive. A second test, a PCR, confirmed it. His team, Mitchelton, isolated him in a room, withdrew him from the Giro and carried out rapid tests on the other members, riders and staff. They all tested negative.

Although they were all in direct contact with Yates for more than 15 minutes breakfast, dinner, bus, massage - the Giro organization has not asked them for any quarantine measures or objected to their continuing in the race.

The winner of the 2018 Vuelta and one of the Giro’s favorites was 21st overall, 3m 52s behind the leader, Joao Almeida, after a few early stages, with a fainting spell on Etna, in which he had not shown himself to be lived up to expectations.

Geraint Thomas leaves the Giro after losing more than 12 minutes due to a crash in the third stage
Exhibition and victory, again, by Filippo Ganna

Yates, 28, is the first cyclist in the two and a half months of competition since the season resumed after confinement has developed Covid-19 during a competition.

“His condition is good, he has only developed minor symptoms,” says the Mitchelton doctor, Matteo Beltemacchi, in a statement, who explains that the team has its own protocol that includes three daily measurements of the temperature of its runners.