Geraint Thomas withdrew from Giro d’Italia as Arnaud Demre won stage four

Before Arenaud Demre forced Peter Sagan and David Ballerini to win on the sea front at Villafranca Tirana, Gerant Thomas retreated from Giro d’Italia with a broken pelvis.

One day when Joe Almeida took the lead in the pink jersey, the big news came when the 140-kilometer stage left Catania when Tomas wasn’t starting a day after hitting his favorite deck of the pre-race hard. When he rode home. Bottled water from Mount Etna in a bad event early Monday’s phase.

The 34-year-old finished the stage in less than 12 minutes before being sent for an X-ray. Although they did not initially show any broken bones, a fresh scan on Tuesday revealed a small, smooth fracture in the lower part of the pelvis, “according to a statement from Innios Grenadiers.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Thomas. “I would love to do so much in this race. I did everything I could and felt like I was better, if not better, when I won the tour. I was feeling really good. So that’s how it ends

“I was really ready to start today. I got up and wanted to start with the boys and at least help them get to the stages in the next few days, but deep down I knew something wasn’t right, so we went to get these extra scans.

“It makes the decision easier when it breaks down in some way, because obviously I don’t want to do any more harm.”

Thomas’s crash was part of a dramatic shake-up of the Sicilian volcano and the general classification, but a day later the sprinters turned their attention to the long descent to the finish line.

Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team worked hard on a big climb of the day, Portella Menderezi, to overcome some of their sprint opponents, and although Elijah Viviani returned, Fernando Gavria had to give up.

But for all the hard work on the Bora climb, they lost their position on the last corner as soon as they reached the sea front. As Miles Scotson, a teammate of Dimre’s Grupama-FDJ team, lost his late charge, Sagan launched an early sprint but couldn’t stop Dimre from finishing a photo.

This means second place for Giro’s Debent Tent Sagan after Diego Ulsi’s runner-up on Sunday, a familiar feeling for a rider who is now 30 seconds behind in the Grand Tour to go with his 16 stage wins. Is.

Alemada took a slim lead in the pink jersey using a sprint 25km from home and gave Monday stage winner Jonathan Cassido two bonus points, which started the day at the same time.

There was a slight change at the top. Wilco Kelderman is fourth with a drop of 44 seconds, while two-time Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali is sixth with 57 seconds, Jacob Fugelsung and Steven Cruisewijk are ninth and 10th respectively.

James Knox, a teammate of Almeida’s Decinink-QuickStep, is 16th, one minute and 42 seconds behind, following struggles over the return of Simon Yates to Mount Etna and Thomas.

Thomas, meanwhile, heads home, his 2020 season ending abruptly ahead of schedule. He targeted the Tour de France but lacked form at Criterium du Duffin in August, leading to a return to Giro.

His overall second place finish at Tireno-Adritico, and fourth place in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships, underscored his favorite position, and he was the best of all contenders in Saturday’s opening time trial. Came out of place.

But misfortune struck again, three years after his last bid to win the pink jersey, a police motorcycle rider on stage nine of the 2017 Giro was effectively wiped out by a crash.

Another bizarre incident occurred late Tuesday’s stage when two riders of the Winnie the Pooh-KTM team – Luka Wickerman and ETN van Ample – appeared when a roadblock was thrown in the final.

Andrea Sitraca, the team’s general manager, told the Italian TV station RAI2: “The helicopter was flying very low, the wind speed blew away the obstacles.

“Wickerman was sent to the hospital, he was very conscious – it’s not clear he broke his tree. The barriers were not properly fixed. ”