Giro d'Italia: Kruijswijk abandons with stomach problems

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Steven Kruijswijk will not be at the start of the penultimate stage of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday. The LottoNL-Jumbo captain is suffering from stomach problems, according to the Dutch media.

His complaints started Friday evening "and only got worse overnight," according to telesport.nl.

The Dutch rider was in eighth place overall going into Friday's stage, but finished 10:41 down on stage winner Mikel Landa (Team Sky) to drop into 10th, at 7:37.

"Really disappointed leaving the race like this! Thanks to all @LottoJumbo_road and @giroditalia for the wonderful race again! Good luck!" he tweeted Saturday morning.

He started the race in less than the best condition, and only disclosed earlier this week that he had started the race with a fractured rib suffered in a crash at the Tour of Yorkshire. He lost time on the first stage when he was caught behind a crash, and then hit the ground during stage 4 to Mount Etna, and subsequently lost further time on the following stages. In recent days, the Dutchman had clawed his way back up the overall classification with some stronger performances and had got himself into the top 10. 

Kruijswijk may think that he Giro is jinxed for him. In 2016 he was in the leader's jersey when he he hit a snowbank on the Colle dell'Agnello and finished nearly five minutes down. He finished the race just off the podium, as fourth.