Ex-champion Dumoulin pulls out of Giro d'Italia

News24
15 May 2019, 23:13 GMT+10

Terracina - Former Giro d'Italia winner Tom Dumoulin pulled out of this year's race early on in Wednesday's fifth stage because of a knee injury sustained in a mass fall during the previous stage.

The Sunweb rider signed in and embarked on the fifth stage, which got underway under driving rain at Frascati, but once he starting pedalling the Dutch rider decided he could not continue.

Dumoulin, who won in 2017 and was second last year behind Britain's Chris Froome, had earlier insisted he would tough out the race.

"Knee still hurts but we hope it will get better through the day. Will give everything I have to make it. Fingers crossed," the Dutch rider wrote.

The fifth stage, a short 140km run from Frascati, just south of Rome, to Terracina, will be mostly raced under the rain, with a 1.5km home straight which should set the scene for a spectacular sprint finish.

"He (Dumoulin) has been cleared to race by the team's medical staff, but is still suffering with his knee," his Sunweb team said.

"He will give it his best shot and see what the day brings."

Dumoulin came second at both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 2018, as well as winning the 2017 Giro and the 2017 world championships time-trial, making him a chief contender in all major tours and races.

"For sure, the overall ranking is over for me," Dumoulin said on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old was in 56th position 4min 30sec behind race leader Primoz Roglic of Slovenia.

"There is no fracture, which is good news, but my knee is very swollen," he added.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Greek Herald.

More Information

17 ℃

Mostly Cloudy in Dekelia

International Business

Section

HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e emerges as the bestseller on Flipkart

New Delhi [India], May 26 (ANI/NewsVoir): Huawei Consumer Business group, India today announced that its latest smartwatch HUAWEI WATCH GT ...

One of biggest heroes in Red Army in World War II was a woman

TASS, Sputnik 'Frau Black Death' - this is how the Nazis referred to Evdokiya Zavaliy. Wounded four times, concussed twice, ...

California avocado producers to benefit from U.S.-China trade deal

LOS ANGELES, California - California avocados gained access to the Chinese market as a result of the China-U.S. phase-one economic ...

Tensions between Beijing and Washington add to world's Covid-19 woes

BEIJING, China - China said on Sunday that its relations with the United States were "on the brink of a ...

McIlroy hopes Ryder Cup will be moved to 2021

Rory McIlroy believes the Ryder Cup will be moved back to 2021 under pressure from players to not lose the ...

Banning bushmeat could make it harder to stop future pandemics

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, eating the meat of wild animals has been getting a bad press.Last month, ...

Mediterranean

Section