Pre-race favourite Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) is out of the Tour of the Alps after abandoning in the middle of stage 2 with illness.
Tiberi started the stage from Mezzolombardo to Sterzing, but climbed off in the final 60 kilometres. The news of his abandon came shortly after a crash in a tunnel, but his exit was unrelated, with the team confirming it was due to stomach problems.
The Italian had already appeared somewhat off-colour on stage 1, losing 15 seconds on the uphill finish to San Lorenzo Dorsino, and on Tuesday the decision was made to step off and focus on recovery.
"Antonio Tiberi has abandoned the Tour of the Alps on Stage 2 due to a gastrointestinal illness," his Bahrain Victorious team wrote on social media. "He will now take time to recover and prepare for the Giro."
This race was set to be Tiberi's final preparation ahead of the Giro d'Italia, where he claimed fifth overall and the best young rider's jersey last year.
Third in the Tour of the Alps in 2024, the Italian also had ambitions of taking a good result this week in only his second year as a dedicated GC leader, but those hopes will be on hold until the Giro.
Instead, Tiberi will now recover before returning to training and planned recons of some key parts of the Giro d'Italia route ahead of the Grande Partenza in Albania.
Despite losing their leader, it was not a terrible day for Bahrain Victorious, with Fran Miholjević spending the day in the break, and Finlay Pickering retaining the mountains jersey after his own breakaway efforts on stage 1.
In terms of the GC, Damiano Caruso swiftly stepped in as plan B for the team and finished in the group behind winner Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), moving into 10th overall.
As well as Tiberi, stage 2 saw Ineos Grenadiers' Salvatore Puccio abandon the race after being involved in a crash in a tunnel and suffering a wrist fracture, which was confirmed by the team later.
The injury likely ends the 35-year-old's chances of being involved in Ineos' selection for the Giro.
The day's other two abandons were the Solution Tech-Vini Fantini duo of Andrea Piras and Tommaso Nencini.
