Adam Yates of Tour de France leader Ineos Grenadiers has withdrawn from the Tour de Suisse after testing positive for COVID-19.

The team revealed in a statement that the British rider was suffering from mild symptoms and tested positive in a lateral flow test on Thursday morning.

Yates did not start stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse, his final preparation race for the Tour de France. He was in 10th place overall after four stages.

So far, he is the only Ineos Grenadiers (open in new tab) rider to leave the Tour de Suisse (open in new tab) due to COVID-19.

The news of Yates' onset of COVID-19 is closely related to his onset in the Jumbo Visma team at the Tour de Suisse. Race director Olivier Sen revealed that there were four positive patients on the team and pulled the entire team and staff from the race on Thursday morning.

Team DSM later revealed that Cees Bol, Casper Pedersen, and Søren Kragh Andersen also tested positive for COVID-19. Many other athletes retired from the race due to illness or fatigue.

Yates was scheduled to lead Ineos Grenadier at the Tour de France with Daniel Martinez, but the COVID-19 case jeopardized his ambitions.

The Tour de France will begin on Friday, July 1 in Copenhagen. That gives Yates time to expel the virus from his system, but it remains to be seen how severely it will affect him in the meantime.

Even if he only has mild symptoms, he will need to rest. In addition, after COVID-19 infection, the patient will undergo a UCI-recommended medical checkup and heart examination to detect any aftereffects of the virus.

After a strong debut in 2021 with Ineos Grenadiers, Yates earned a leadership role in the 2022 Tour de France after Egan Bernal suffered a career-threatening crash.

He will lead the British superteam with Colombian Daniel Martinez, while 2018 winner Geraint Thomas, with Filippo Ganna targeting the opening time trial and Tom Pidcock making his Tour debut, support

Geraint Thomas, the 2018 winner, will likely ride in a support role as Filippo Ganna aims for the opening time trial and Tom Pidcock makes his Tour debut.

Yates finished second in the season-opening Tour of the UAE behind two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar and fourth in Paris-Nice.

In early April, he retired on the final stage of the Tour de Basque, which Martinez won, and returned to racing after more than two months of rest at the Tour de Suisse.