Treviso, Italy – Britain's Bradley Wiggins, the winner of last year's Tour de France, has pulled out of the Giro d'Italia cycling race due to illness, his team announced on Friday.
“Due to a worsening chest infection, the decision was taken for Wiggins not to start the race's 13th stage on Friday from Busseto to Cherasco,” Team Sky said in a statement. Wiggins stood in 13th place after Thursday's 12th stage, 5:22 behind the current leader, Italy's Vincenzo Nibali, of Astana.
Defending Giro d'Italia champion Ryder Hesjedal has also withdrawn, the Canadian's Garmin-Sharp team announced.
Hesjedal had slipped to 38th place after 12 stages, 32 minutes and 55 seconds down on overall leader Vincenzo Nibali of Italy after suffering badly in the first mountain stages of the race last weekend.
"It's heartbreaking," Hesjedal said in a news release.
"I want to be here for my team and for all the people who have supported me to get me here to this point.
"I built my entire season around the Giro and I came here feeling great, but I have been suffering since the (stage eight) TT (individual time trial).
"We're working on it but we're not sure what's wrong. There's a virus that's been going around, so it could be that, or severe allergies."
Hesjedal became his country's first Giro d'Italia winner when he edged out Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez by 16 seconds after a ferocious two-week duel through the mountains, with the Canadian gaining the upper hand on the final day's time trial in Milan.
Hesjedal's withdrawal follows that of France national champion Nacer Bouhanni, who announced on Thursday evening that he was quitting the 21-stage race. – Sapa-AFP/Reuters