| schema:articleBody
| - Alex Dowsett soloed to victory in the Giro d'Italia eighth stage on Saturday to give his Israel Start-up Nation team a first win just hours after fellow Briton Simon Yates' race finished after a positive coronavirus test. Yates, 28, withdrew before the start of the 200km stage from Giovinazzo in Puglia to Vieste after becoming the first rider to test positive for Covid-19 at a Grand Tour. The Mitchelton-Scott team leader, who won the Vuelta in 2018, was 21st in the overall standings ahead of Saturday's stage with overall victory still potentially within his grasp. "Simon's health remains our main concern and, thankfully, his symptoms remain very mild and he is otherwise in good health," team doctor Matteo Beltemacchi said. Yates tested positive after developing a slight fever on Friday, and a second test confirmed the positive result. The team said its remaining riders all tested negative and were cleared to take part in the race. Yates's positive raises inevitable questions about how he caught the virus and whether he passed it on to others. As on the Tour de France, the Giro has been carrying out routine Covid-19 tests, but teams are free to carry out additional security measures themselves. On Saturday, Portugal's Joao Almeida retained the leader's pink jersey in a race where Dowsett produced a powerful finish to cross the line alone. The 32-year-old finished more than a minute ahead of Italian Salvatore Puccio of Ineos and Briton Matthew Holmes of WorldTeam Lotto. "I don't know what to say, I can't say how much I needed a win like this in such a difficult year," said Dowsett. "I don't have a contract yet for next year and with a baby coming in January, I really needed such a result so badly, I cannot believe it." Dowsett left his five breakaway companions in his wake with 20km to go, finishing as in a time trial, his speciality, where in 2015 he held the world Hour Record before it was broke by compatriot Bradley Wiggins. The rider from Essex claimed his second Giro stage win, seven years after his first, having joked earlier of his "nightmare" start to the day. "Cleaned my teeth then realised I hadn't drunk my freshly brewed coffee yet this morning," he tweeted. "I really hope the day picks up because it started with a nightmare." Deceuninck's Almeida finished 17th nearly 14 minutes behind Dowsett to lead Spaniard Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) and Dutch rider Wilco Keldermann of Team Sunweb going in Sunday's ninth stage over 208km from San Salvo to Roccaraso. "We are focussed on keeping the Maglia Rosa but we took it easy today," Almeida said in reference to the pink jersey. "Tomorrow it will be harder, we will see if I can keep it after the stage." The mountainous stage in Abruzzo, overlooking the Adriatic Sea,finishes at altitude with a final climb of 9.6km with climbs hitting a 12 percent gradient. ea/lp
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)