Bradley Wiggins dream of adding a Giro d’Italia win to his epic 2012 Tour de France victory are over as he retires ahead of today’s Stage 13 (Busseto to Cherasco) on the advice of Team Sky medical staff. A worsen chest infection saw the 33-year-old drop to 13th overall place after yesterday’s tough Stage 12 and with his prospects looking unlikely to improve the decision has been made to return to the UK for further tests and rest. With a strong group of eight riders remaining at the Giro, Team Sky will ride in support of Rigoberto Urán, who currently sits in third place overall, two minutes and four seconds off the race lead.
Outlining the situation, Team Sky Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: ‘We monitored Bradley overnight and this morning we’ve withdrawn him from the Giro after consulting the team doctor. His chest infection has been getting worse and our primary concern is always the health of our riders… Bradley will return to the UK today for treatment and to rest and we hope to have him back on the road as soon as possible. As a passionate racer he wanted to continue but he is simply unable to do so on medical grounds.’
