This year's Giro d'Italia is shaping up to be the most attritional edition of the race in recent memory. With the race having just passed the halfway mark, only 140 riders remain at the end of stage 11, down 36 on the 176 who set off at the Grande Partenza in Abruzzo on May 6.
COVID-19 has hit the Giro hard. 16 riders to date have headed home after falling ill with the virus, which returned in the peloton in the weeks leading up to the race.
Race favourite Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) didn't make it past Monday's rest day after testing positive, while fellow GC contenders Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) are also leaving the race with the virus.
Stage 11 saw four of Evenepoel's teammates also leave the race with COVID-19, the quartet was among eight riders to miss the start of the stage. Later in the stage, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) crashed out of third place overall.
Only UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma, Astana Qazaqstan, and Bahrain Victorious remain with full squads, while Soudal-QuickStep battle on with just three riders – Davide Ballerini, Pieter Serry, and Ilan Van Wilder.
Already, the race isn't far off the recent low of 133 finishers at the COVID-19-hit 2020 race. There's some way to go to match the races of 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2003, though, where under 100 made the finish due to harsh time cut rules in the mountains.
The Giro's record low is the 1914 edition, which saw just eight finishers from 81 starters, while the post-war record low is 40 finishers in 1946.
Read on for the full rundown of withdrawals from the 2023 Giro d'Italia.
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, stomach problems
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, fever & stomach problems
- Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) – DNF, gastroenteritis
- Florian Stork (Team DSM) – DNF, stomach problems
- 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
- Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) – DNS, Pre-planned rest
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech) – DNS, COVID-19
- Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-Premier Tech) – DNS, illness
- Sven Erik Bystrøm (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) – DNS, COVID-19
- Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) – DNS, stomach problems
- Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Deceuninck) – DNS, fever & diarrhoea
- Callum Scotson (Jayco-AlUla) – DNS, COVID-19
- Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM) – DNF, crash injuries
- Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) – DNF, illness
- Erik Fetter (Eolo-Kometa) – DNF, illness
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) – DNF, COVID-19
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, viral illness
- Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) – DNF, crash
- Oscar Rodríguez (Movistar) – DNF, crash
A full list of riders remaining at the Giro d'Italia, powered by FirstCycling
