Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) has been forced to abandon the 2024 Tour de France after suffering from symptoms of COVID-19.
The British squad announced the 24-year-old wouldn't be taking the start of stage 14 on Saturday morning, with Pidcock now set to go home and recover for the Paris Olympic Games.
"A disappointed Tom Pidcock will not line up for stage 14 of the Tour de France today," read a social media post from the team.
"Tom is experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 and under advice from our medical team will now return home to recover."
Pidcock's teammate Geraint Thomas confirmed that while he had returned a positive test for COVID-19, he was able to start stage 14 with mild symptoms under the team doctor's protocols around respiratory illnesses.
“For a start, it’s a big, big shame to lose Tom but he felt bad this morning and it was between him and the doctor - that’s what they decided to do," Thomas told ITV ahead of the stage 14 start.
"For me, I’m also not great. I tested positive but I’ve just got mild symptoms so the doctor is monitoring me closely and they’ve got their protocol when it comes to respiratory infections. At the minute, it’s just a bit of a headache and runny nose so we’ll see how it goes."
Thomas said all ambitions of chasing a result for himself or helping his GC leaders on stage 14 would "pretty much" be out of the questioning, just hoping to make it through the day and recover in the final week.
“See how the legs are and certainly at the start, just get to the bottom of the Tourmalet as best as possible and see how I feel," he said. "Every other walk of life I’d be absolutely fine but trying to race the Tour is slightly different."
Pidock joins a whole host of riders who have been forced to end their race early with illness, with Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Michael Mørkøv (Astana Qazaqstan) also confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19 before leaving the race.
The multi-discipline star had come to his third Tour aiming for a second career stage victory but narrowly missed out on the stage 9 gravel stage behind Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies).
Pidcock should return to action at the Paris Olympic Games, where he'll combine the MTB event with the road race in July and August.
Pidcock's departure from the Tour leaves Ineos with seven riders to try and help Carlos Rodríguez challenge the top five and podium as the race hits the Pyrenees this weekend.
