Video: Matt Wilson forced to quit the Giro d'Italia

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Matt Wilson (Garmin-Cervelo) heads to the sign on(Image credit: Mark Johnson/www.ironstring.com)

Australia's Matt Wilson was the maglia nera or lanterne rouge of the Giro d'Italia for much of the last week but was forced to retire during Wednesday's stage due to a stomach virus.

Wilson dug deep to get through the three mountain stages and especially Sunday's marathon stage to Gardeccia, in the hope of recovering during the rest day. But he was severely weakened by the virus and climbed off at the feed zone during the stage.

His Garmin-Cervelo teammate Murilo Fischer also climbed off after suffering with the same virus. The American team is now down to five riders after already losing Brett Lancaster and Tyler Farrar.

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.