As the Giro d'Italia left the Riviera and began its climb toward Pieve di Teco, Romain Bardet drifted behind the peloton. A few kilometers later, he wobbled to a stop, slammed on his brakes, and lay on the side of the road. A few minutes later, the race radio crackled to life, announcing Bardet's abandonment. Thus

Bardet started the day in fourth place overall, just 14 seconds behind Maglia Rosa's Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo). However, illness robbed him of that chance.

News of Bardet's withdrawal gradually spread throughout the peloton. For example, compatriot Arnaud Demaret first became aware of the situation when Bardet's DSM team joined his Grupama-FDJ team, which was aiming to sprint for Alberto Dainese at the finish of stage 13 in Cuneo. Meanwhile, race leader Lopez assumed that Bardet had crashed until he went to the post-stage press conference.

However, there were concerns within the DSM team that Bardet was not feeling well early in stage 12. However, resilience alone could only take him so far in the race. After riding on empty, Bardet had no choice but to retire 35 km into stage 13.

"It's a real shame," said coach Matt Winston Sportif in Cuneo. 'In yesterday's stage, Romain started to feel sick after about 10 kilometers. On yesterday's stage, Romain started to get sick after about 10 kilometers. But it didn't get better last night. He could not eat last night and could hardly sleep because of his illness.

"Already this morning I had some doubts about what would happen and whether he would be able to start today. But it was impossible. Romain was not feeling well.

After getting up, Bardet was helped into the passenger seat of the DSM team car, but his suffering did not end there. For the first half of the stage, he chugged along at the back of the race he had been trying to win for the past two weeks, while the TV bikes backed off the formation and his agony was broadcast to viewers around the world.

Winston later confirmed that Bardet was suffering from stomach problems, not sunstroke. Various viruses swept through the peloton this spring, depleting the rosters of several teams during the Spring Classic, but at DSM, Winston added, only Balde was ill.

"Everybody is fine. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's sickness and diarrhea," Winston said. But we'll wait for the doctor's full report."

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Bardet was on the podium at the 2016 and 2017 Tour de France, but was away from the grand prize for the next few years. In 2021, after moving from AG2R to DSM, Bardet opted to forgo the Tour and enter the Giro.

Twelve months later, Bardet has become more assured on Italian roads. His victory in last month's Tour de l'Alps highlighted his abilities before the start of the Giro, and he made few mistakes once the race left Budapest. In the blockhouse last weekend, Bardet traded pedal strokes with Richard Karapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious). Suddenly, there was reason to believe that he might be able to bridge the 33-year gap to the last French Giro winner, Laurent Fignon. But that dream was cut short just as the race was entering its decisive phase.

Romain Conbeau was making his Grand Tour debut at this Giro, and his job on Friday was to nurse and coax his leader and compatriot Bardet through the stage. From the opening kilometer, it was clear that Bardet's crash was inevitable.

"Romain stopped in tears," Conbeau said upon arriving in Cuneo. 'My role today was to be there for him. I said let's make today an easy day and I hoped he would get better tonight. He's been great for 12 days, so there was no reason for him not to get better.

"The heat was too much. He had a stomach problem. It's a little virus, but I'm sure it will go away. We promised each other we would do good things in this giro and I was happy to be here to help him. It hurts, but I'll keep going."

In Friday's finale, DSM focused on Dainese's stage win. Bardet himself played a leadout role in Tuesday's sprint contest in Reggio Emilia, but here he was only fifth behind De Mare; Tymen Arensmann, in 1:27:11, now carries the team's overall hopes.

"We still have options. We'll get together again tonight, go over them, and go from there," Winston said, but it's hard to think about the ill-fated Bardet.

"Romain doesn't stop racing unless he has to, but his bike was bad all day yesterday and it was still bad this morning. In the end he could not continue racing. In the end, he couldn't continue racing.