Finally, it was not the wind that proved to be the main enemy of the Paris-Nice riders this year.
But an influenza virus which prevented 18 runners from starting the 5th stage of the race to the sun this Thursday, eighteen packages were announced, mainly due to flu.
If the Jumbo-Visma of the amazing Primoz Roglic and Wout Van Aert, the leader of the event, are unscathed, other formations are much more impacted.
Like the Israel-PremierTech team which only has one representative left (Hugo Houle).
đźš© The real start has been given!
126 riders at the start, 18 non-starters:
đźš© Only 126 riders in the peloton today, 18 riders did not start:
🇩🇪 Politt (@BORAhansgrohe)
🇧🇪 Capiot (@Arkea_Samsic)
🇨🇠Mäder (@BHRVictorious)
🇮🇹 Trentin (@ TeamEmiratesUAE)
– Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 10, 2022
"The information we have is not very good,
underlines Julien Jurdie, one of the sporting directors of AG2R-Citroën, who saw his two best riders, Ben O'Connor and Clément Champoussin, fall ill and throw away the 'sponge.
The medical condition of the peloton is not good, a kind of flu virus is circulating there.
Our rider Stan Dewulf will leave but not necessarily in great condition.
There is a lot of frustration as we look forward with determination to the last weekend.
»
The non-starters at the start of the fifth stage: Matteo Trentin (UAE), Yves Lampaert and Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step), Gino Mäder (Bahrain-Victorious), Neilson Powless, Jens Keukeleire and Stefan Bissegger (EF-ProCyling), James Piccoli, Frederik Hagen and Tom van Asbroeck (Israel-PremierTech), Amaury Capiot (Arkea-Samsic), Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Clément Champoussin (AG2R-Citroën), Kevin Vermaerke, Jonas Rickaert, Jay Vine and Kristian Sbaragli (Alpecin-Fenix), Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange).
