The entire Mitchelton Scott team has withdrawn from the Giro d'Italia after four staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Team Sunweb's Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo Visma) and Michael Matthews also tested positive and withdrew from the race. The remaining positives included one staff member each from AG2R La Mondiale and Ineos Grenadier.

Race organizer RCS Sport conducted a total of 571 tests on Giro d'Italia riders and team staff. The tests were performed Sunday night and Monday morning, and all RT-PCR swabs were sent to Milan to be tested in a private laboratory. Further tests will be performed on the race staff on Wednesday. Stage 10 between Lanciano and Tortoreto Lido will take place on Tuesday morning. Kruijswijk finished the race in 11th place overall, 1:24 behind Maria Rosa winner Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick Step). For Mitchelton-Scott, the blow came just days after team leader Simon Yates was forced to withdraw from the race due to a positive test for COVID-19. He is still living in quarantine in Italy.

"Unfortunately, we received word on Monday evening that we had tested positive for COVID-19 for the third time in three days, with numerous positive tests," said Brent Copeland, general manager of Mitchelton Scott. [As a matter of social responsibility to our riders, staff, peloton, and race organization, we have made a clear decision to withdraw from the Giro d'Italia.

"Thankfully, the affected riders remain asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, but as an organization, the health of all riders and staff is our top priority and we are currently focused on safely transporting them to the most comfortable areas to conduct a quarantine period.

"We wish RCS and the rest of the peloton a successful finish to this year's Giro d'Italia and look forward to returning again in 2021.

Jumbo Bisma issued a brief statement on Twitter: "Kruijswijk will miss the start of stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia. Kruijswijk tested positive for Covid-19 on his rest day. As a result, he must leave the race."

More to follow...

Sunweb confirmed the news about Matthews in a short statement posted on its website. It confirmed that Matthews is in good health and will be quarantined for some time. The statement reads, "Following a PCR test on the rest day of yesterday's Giro d'Italia, Michael Matthews of Team Sunweb has tested positive for COVID-19. He is now asymptomatic and healthy, received his test results early this morning, and is now in isolation.

"All other riders and staff tested negative and at this stage no other team members are showing any symptoms of COVID-19. The team will remain as disciplined as possible and continue to monitor all riders in the bubble closely while doing their utmost to keep them in check."