Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) retired from the Giro d'Italia on Thursday morning after testing positive for COVID-19 on stage 17.

The Portuguese rider, who was 1:10 behind Maria Rosa's Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) on the mountain stage to Lavarone and in fourth place overall, will take no further part in the race after testing positive.

Following early reports from Tuttobiciweb (opens in new tab), Andrea Agostini, team manager of UAE Team Emirates, told Cycling News that Almeida tested positive for a virus at the start of stage 18 and will leave the race admitted to Cycling News that Almeida had tested positive for the virus and would be leaving the race.

Almeida was the only rider on the team to test positive, and the team confirmed that the riders had been staying in a single room during the Giro d'Italia.

His symptoms were mild, and the team confirmed that he had suffered from a sore throat throughout the night before testing positive on Thursday morning.

"Almeida woke up last night with a persistent sore throat and tested positive," UAE Team Emirates team doctor Michele De Grandi said.

"We follow strict rules for prevention and in addition to disinfecting the environment the team uses every day (cars, buses, hotel rooms, etc.), we keep the players themselves in private rooms to limit very close contact. However, despite these precautions, as we have seen, it is clear that we are not providing 100% shelter"

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Team representative Mauro Gianetti said that UAE Team Emirates must accept reality, adding that the most important thing going forward is Almeida's recovery.

"We are obviously deeply upset, because João and the support team had a great race. Our goal was the Giro podium and the white jersey for best young rider, and we were fighting to win both." It's bad news, but this is the reality we have lived with every day for the past two years. We have to accept it and look forward. The most important thing now is for João to recover as quickly as possible."

Almeida slipped out of third place on Wednesday's stage after dropping out of the GC leading group on the final climb to Monterovelle. He finished the day in 14th place, 3:23 behind stage winner Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious). Mikel Landa moved into third place, 1:04 behind Almeida.

"Of course it's tough, but I don't want to give up. The Giro is not over yet and I will keep fighting," Almeida told Eurosport after the stage.

"I was not in good shape from the beginning today. I hadn't recovered 100% from yesterday. I am a really tough rider and I knew right away that my legs were not at their usual level today."

With Almeida's retirement, only Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Landa were within five minutes of race leader Calapaz, while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Kazakstan) moved into fourth place overall.

Former race leader Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) will take the white jersey as the best young rider. He is 12:27 behind Calapaz and in 8th place overall.

Ahead of stage 18, a day of sprinters in Veneto, UAE Team Emirates' Directeur Sportif Fabio Baldato told Giro d'Italia Cycling News and other reporters that the team initially thought Almeida had lost time in Wednesday's mountain Almeida lost time in Wednesday's mountain stage, which the team initially thought was just a bad bike.

However, Almeida admitted that he was likely affected by the COVID-19 virus, as he lost time on the final climb, but lost more time on the undulations 8 km before the finish.

"I thought I was just out of shape," Baldato said. "He told me he wasn't feeling well at the beginning of the climb and asked, 'Guys, support me as much as you can.' I was in the car with him, yelling as we climbed."

"He was great to the end and suffered more on the flat part than the climb and lost time. After all, that is definitely the reason; it would not be the first time in the last two years that COVID-19 has affected the performance of the riders."

According to Baldato, Almeida was feeling upbeat heading into the final four stages of the race, including two summit finishes and a 17.4 km time trial in Verona on the final day.

"He was really confident," said the team leader. 'He doesn't go for the best or the strongest, he doesn't lose too much. That's his strength. He was confident that sooner or later someone else could crack or go bad. It's in his power to go for the TT on the last day."

Baldato concluded that despite the loss of Almeida and the white jersey and the possibility of a podium finish in Verona, the race was the first Grand Tour for UAE Team Emirates and a confirmation of the team leader's abilities.

"Certainly, he deserved our support. Players such as Diego Ulissi, Alessandro Covi, and Davide Formolo all had ambitions of winning a stage.

"The whole group, the whole staff, has put in a lot of effort over the last two months to come to the Giro. Of course, we left with a good feeling that João is the GC man and the future GC leader" .