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176 riders lined up for the opening time trial of the race, but after Stage 11 that number is now down to 140 with a huge 36 abandons through less than two weeks in a Giro d'Italia that's proving to be one of the most gruelling yet.
The COVID-19 virus has once again reared its head in this year's edition, forcing 16 riders to abandon so far including overall contenders Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep), Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-Hansgrohe) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (INEOS Grenadiers) to name a few.
It's unclear how the virus was spread amongst the peloton, but the majority of transmission has seemingly happened more recently with 12 of the 16 abandons coming after and following Stage 9.
The weather has also been harsh on the peloton, with frequent heavy rain and cold winds making parcours treacherous and riders vulnerable to illnesses other than COVID.
Crashes have been a feature of multiple stages, with Tao Geoghegan Hart (INEOS Grenadiers) abandoning the race on a stretcher in third overall after becoming the victim of a slippery descent on Stage 11. Oscar Rodriguez (Movistar) also fell later on the same descent, hitting a sign and suffering a bruised kidney.
With every day on the bike proving a challenge, it seems inevitable there'll be more casualties of this Giro d'Italia. Just four teams remain with a full roster in UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma, Bahrain Victorious and Astana Qazaqstan whereas others have been decimated, Soudal QuickStep the hardest hit with just three riders.
The full list of Giro 2023 abandons
DNF (Did not finish), DNS (Did not start)
Stage 4:
- Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroën) - DNF (Illness)
Stage 5:
- Valerio Conti (Corratec-Selle Italia) – DNS (Fractured Pelvis)
- Rémy Rochas (Cofidis) - DNS (Undisclosed)
- Ramon Sinkeldam (Alpecin-Deceuninck) - DNS (Illness)
Stage 6:
- Clément Russo (Arkéa-Samsic) - DNS (COVID-19)
Stage 7:
- Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Giovanni Aleotti (Bora-Hansgrohe) - DNS (COVID-19)
Stage 8:
- Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ) - DNS (Illness)
- Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) - DNF (Illness)
- Florian Stork (Team DSM) - DNF (Illness)
- David Dekker (Arkéa-Samsic) – DNF (Undisclosed)
Stage 9:
- Davide Cimolai (Cofidis) - DNS (Crash injuries)
Stage 10:
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Callum Scotson (Jayco-AlUla) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Sven Erik Bystrøm (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) - DNS (Pre-planned rest)
- Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-Premier Tech) - DNS (Illness)
- Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) - DNS (Illness)
- Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Deceuninck) - DNS (Illness)
- Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) - DNF (Illness)
- Erik Fetter (Eolo-Kometa) - DNS (Illness)
- Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM) - DNF (Crash injuries)
Stage 11:
- Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Josef Černý (Soudal-QuickStep) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Stefano Gandin (Corratec-Selle Italia) - DNS (COVID-19)
- Natnael Tesfatsion (Trek-Segafredo) - DNS (Flu)
- Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) - DNS (Illness)
- Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) - DNF (Crash)
- Oscar Rodríguez (Movistar) - DNF (Crash)
