Despite Michael Matthews testing positive for COVID-19 on the rest day of the Giro d'Italia, Team Sunweb did not leave the race with Jumbo-Visma, saying it would "follow the rules" previously agreed with the UCI and RCS Sport.

Jumbo-Visma announced its withdrawal from the Giro on Tuesday morning after Steven Kruijswijk tested positive for coronavirus, and Mitchelton Scott also withdrew after four staff members tested positive. Mitchelton Scott's Simon Yates had left the Giro on Saturday after contracting COVID-19.

Individual staff members of Ineos Grenadiers and AG2R La Mondiale also tested positive for COVID-19 in PCR tests conducted on Sunday night and Monday morning. Both teams, as well as Sunweb, decided to stay in the Giro d'Italia to await retesting of their riders and staff.

Sunweb withdrew Tiesj Benoot from the Gent-Wevelgem weekend due to close contact with Jan Bakelants (Circus Wantigover), who tested positive for COVID-19 The two were in Belgium on Wednesday night after the race at Brabantse Pijl. They appeared together on the TV show Extra Time Koers.

Despite this precedent, Sunweb chose not to withdraw the entire team from the Giro following Matthews' positive test. Wilco Kelderman is currently in second place overall, 34 seconds behind Maria Rosa's Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and 1:19 behind Jai Hindley in seventh.

"Basically, we just follow the rules we agreed to with the UCI and the organization, the protocols we follow in stage races. We're just following the rules, the protocol that we agreed to with the UCI and the organization," Sunweb's Luke Roberts said in Tortoleto Lido after the 10th stage.

Asked if Sunweb was considering withdrawing a rider who tested positive for COVID-19 from the race following Jumbo-Visma, Roberts replied: "No, we are confident in what we are doing in our bubble and how we are going the distance. Michael and the team get tested regularly. We just follow the agreed protocol."

Kelderman and Hindley finished in a reduced Maria Rosa group at the end of a breathless stage 10, where some of the overall leaders went on the offensive in the Muri near the finish of the Tortoleto Lido. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), who finished second on this stage, was one of those who felt that the riders were more aggressive in the race, even though it was questionable whether the Giro would go the entire way to Milan.

Roberts, however, insisted that Kelderman and Sunweb were racing on the assumption that the Giro would go according to plan to settle in the mountains in the third week.

"We are looking at the final week," Kelderman said. We would have had a chance to go for the leader's jersey, but the big picture is we're going to Milan. We're going to Milan to win. That's why we're going to Milan. [Michal was] a strong rider who could have gone for a stage win, and a strong rider who could have been used on GC. Missing a rider is not ideal, but we just keep focusing on what we can control."