Alberto Contador exclusive: Remco Evenepoel ‘must be broken’ at Giro d’Italia withdrawal after positive Covid-19 test

The Soudal-Quick Step rider, having triumphed in the individual time trial on Stage 9, secured a 45-second lead in the general classification.

However, just hours later his team announced that he would no longer participate in the race due to a positive test result.

“I can imagine how Remco must have felt. He must be broken because he has worked really hard to be in optimal form for this Giro d’Italia,” said Eurosport expert Contador.

“We saw how he kicked things off perfectly with the initial time trial where he won with authority. He has been doing well over the past few days so being forced to leave the race due to Covid is complicated.

‘It’s true that it’s a decision that came from his team and himself. The UCI [cycling’s governing body] doesn’t force you to do anything, but it’s a tough thing to deal with.

“If you have a positive rider and you keep them in the race to see how they get on, they have a rest day and then maybe a few days that won’t be too tough to see if he could overcome the situation.

“But it is a decision that belongs to the team, to Remco, and the reality is that now Remco is not in the race, and a new Giro begins.”

After his triumphant 2022 Vuelta a Espana win, Evenepoel was aiming to achieve another victory in a Grand Tour. In the Giro, he emerged victorious in two stages: the individual time trials on Stage 1 and Stage 9. He donned the pink leader’s jersey until Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) claimed it following Stage 4.

“And we also saw how in the 35km time trial, which on paper was very well suited to him as it was perfect for specialists, he went from better to worse. On the other hand, his rivals kept the same rhythm, and Primoz Roglic even improved in the final section.

“Of course, when the news broke that he had Covid, we started to understand a lot of things. It’s clear that we don’t know how much Covid was affecting him, but his face after the stage really didn’t look good.”

With the Belgian out of the race, Contador predicts how the race could now shape up, saying that the Ineos Grenadiers duo of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas look in “great shape”.

“A new Giro begins that is completely different in which Geraint Thomas becomes the new race leader and let’s see how he deals with this situation. The Ineos duo, both Tao and Thomas, we are seeing are in great shape. Even in the initial predictions, after the two big favourites of Remco and Primoz, the Ineos duo were being talked about.

“So the Giro has changed completely because Thomas is a rider who has a strong team around him. [Pavel] Sivakov is in the top 10, [Thymen] Arensman is riding very well. We still don’t know who the outright leader of Ineos will be.

“We have to admit that Tao is doing really well in the time trials when he is perhaps more of a climber. We saw this recently in the Tour of the Alps.

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