Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have reported a “wave of illnesses” in the Vuelta a España has caused two of their riders to abandon and a third to finish outside the time limit, although race leader Primoz Roglič has said he was not affected and was able to successfully defend his title on Saturday’s final mountain stage of the race.
Roglič’s teammates Patrick Gamper and Dani Martínez - the latter instrumental in setting Roglic up for his solo ride to victory and regaining the red jersey on stage 19 at Moncalvillo - both had to abandon on stage 20.
A third Red Bull member of their Vuelta lineup, Nico Denz, completed the ultra-mountainous course but finished outside the time limit and a fourth, Aleksandr Vlasov, felt ill but finished half an hour down.
"A wave of illness has swept over us overnight,” lead sports director Pati Vila said in a statement published on the team’s website.
“We are currently investigating whether food poisoning is the cause. Several staff members have been affected and have had to pull out of today's stage. Also, Nico, Gampi, Dani and Aleks were unwell during the stage. We will gather now and will focus on tomorrow's final stage."
Roglič himself seemed unaffected by the illness, completing the stage in third place and even slightly increasing his overall advantage over second-placed Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to just over two minutes. Red Bull racers Roger Adria, Florian Lipowitz and Giovanni Aleotti also seemed unaffected and rode strongly to support their leader on the last big day in the mountains.
“The guys were not feeling their best from the morning on, there’s something going around,” Roglič confirmed. “Luckily for me, I’m still feeling fine and now I just have to finish it off.”
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