The people of Lanciano gathered to watch the Giro d'Italia visit their town, and even the news spreading along Largo Belenga of a string of positive COVID-19 tests on the rest day did not dampen the festive mood at the start of stage 10.

Familiar rituals abounded. Teenage drummers in medieval costumes stood along the roadside, waiting for their cue. It was another day and another town for the Giro, but it was not always the same day for those involved in the race.

Just an hour earlier, RCS Sport and the UCI announced that two riders and six team staff had tested positive for COVID-19 during a round of tests conducted on the rest day of the Giro.

Within minutes, Michelton Scott, who accounted for four of the staff, announced his withdrawal from the Giro after Simon Yates had already tested positive on Saturday. Jumbo Visma confirmed that Steven Kruijswijk had tested positive. Later, Team Sunweb announced that Michael Matthews also tested positive for COVID-19 and was quarantined. The hazy threat to the progress of the race to Milan suddenly became clear.

Androni Giocattoli and Saidelmec boss Gianni Savio were the first team managers to emerge from the team bus paddock.

"In a nutshell, I hope we can make as much progress as possible," Savio said. But the big problem is that we are fighting an invisible enemy that makes it almost impossible."

Shortly thereafter, Cofidis sprinter Elia Viviani stopped in the same spot, stressing that the Giro Gruppo needed to continue its commitment to physical distance in order to prolong the race.

"We have to stay in the bubble. But if you want to go to Milan, you have to," Viviani said. Even as he spoke, from just a few meters away, tifosi and others were arching into the street to take his picture.

Teams began to pass and sign in, but the yellow and black Jumbo Visma jersey was still nowhere to be seen after the other teams (Ineos Grenadier, AG2R La Mondiale, and Sunweb) confirmed the race would continue.

Just 25 minutes before the start, a delegation from Jumbo Visma, led by director Adi Engels Sportif, went solemnly to the podium for a short parley with race director Mauro Veni. Upon their return, Engels confirmed that the Jumbo-Visma team had chosen to leave the Giro en masse.

"Leaving a race is a big deal, especially in a case like this.

After a morning of stepping into the Giro and not being able to step away, Jumbo Visma made his decision and headed home.

Then the bike race broke out. The 177 km ride to Tortoreto Lido on the Adriatic coast turned out to be the most gripping race of the Giro so far. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), who had not won a race in 461 days, produced one of the greatest victories of his career.

With heavy rain falling in Muri around Tortoleto, the pink jersey group was cut to the bone and Pero Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren) went on the offensive while Jacob Fuglsang (Astana) lost over a minute with an unlucky puncture.

Brandon McNulty, a climber for UAE Team Emirates, made a valiant effort to catch up to Sagan in the closing laps, eventually finishing in an impressive second place. Race leader Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep), another neo-pro, won the sprint for third place, and with a time bonus, he increased his lead over Sunweb's Wilco Kelderman to 34 seconds.

On the finish straight along the Tortoretto waterfront, McNulty, now in 13th place overall, claimed that the events of the morning contributed to a breathless day of racing. As the final day of the Giro, October 25, became increasingly precarious, Gruppo was racing as if there was virtually no tomorrow.

"Now it is possible that every day is the last day. It was clear that everyone felt that way. It was a hard day," McNulty said. It's certainly a possibility. But safety is the most important thing for the players and for Italy as a whole. We'll see how it goes."

Movistar's Max Chandri echoed McNulty's assessment of the day's stages, summarizing the general uncertainty governing this Giro in the wake of Tuesday's news and before the final week, when many of the major climbs are already covered in snowfall.

"It's one day at a time. You can't plan for it. Weather. I don't know; COVID' I don't know. Today everyone said, 'Let's do something.' Maybe not tomorrow."

Two of the 22 starting teams in the Giro have left the race. In March, when the coronavirus epidemic hit Europe, the teams pulling out of Paris-Nice looked like Joseph Haddin's "farewell symphony." The Giro has not yet reached that stage, but its future is clearly uncertain.

The number of stages needed to be declared winner is also unclear. With the Maria Rosa in hand, Almeida is adamant that he wants to carry it all the way to Milan in a week's time on Sunday.

"Everything is possible, but I want to reach Milan," Almeida told a press conference. This is a Grand Tour and no one wants to win it without riding for three weeks." Everything is a possibility and we will keep trying to defend the jersey."

Meanwhile, Almeida said that he is "looking forward to the Tour of Milan.

Meanwhile, on RAI's program "Processo alla Tappa," the Giro director laid out his fighting spirit. 'Today we did not find COVID. We must live with this problem," said Veni, who also expressed surprise at the departure of Jumbo Visma.

Shortly thereafter, it was reported that Italy had received 5,901 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the highest number since March 28. As Veni surely knows, simply "not giving in" to a problem does not solve it.