Mark Cavendish, Simon Yates and Rui Costa abandoned the Tour de Romandie on the opening road stage.
Cavendish withdrew after he was distanced with most of the other sprinters in the race on the climb of Fontanezier, while Yates was forced out early in the stage with stomach problems. Rui Costa was unable to finish due to the knee injury he picked up in Tuesday’s prologue.
A number of sprinters, including Cavendish, were dropped when Ineos forced the pace on the day’s toughest climb. The Manxman later climbed off 60km from the finish of stage 1 in Vallée de Joux. The Tour de Romandie was Cavendish's final preparation race ahead of his expected participation at the Giro d’Italia next month.
Astana-Qazaqstan later stated that Cavendish was "feeling unwell". His teammate Alexey Lutsenko was a non-starter on Wednesday’s stage after falling ill with COVID-19.
Rui Costa abandoned the Tour de Romandie at the same time as Cavendish, having also been distanced on the ascent to Fontanezier. The Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert rider injured his knee when his chainring fell off on the start ramp before Tuesday’s prologue, and he was not entirely optimistic about his chances ahead of stage 1.
“I have quite a bit of pain and inflammation,” Rui Costa said at the start in Crissier. “If I can finish today, that’s great. But if not, there’s nothing to be done.”
Simon Yates was forced to withdraw midway through the stage due to illness. The Briton had placed 38th in Tuesday’s short opening time trial.
“Unfortunately, Simon Yates abandoned the Tour de Romandie due to some sudden stomach issues during stage 1,” read a statement from Jayco-Alula. “The team will carry out further medical checks to understand the details of the situation.”
