Valverde out of Tour of Lombardy with influenza, ends season

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Alejandro Valverde will not ride the Tour of Lombardy today and has ended his 2012 season. The Movistar Team captain has been diagnosed with influenza. In addition, his teammate Andrey Amador is out with a fractured collarbone. They will be replaced by Juanjo Cobo and Sergio Pardilla.

Valverde did not even travel to Italy, as he came down with a high fever on Wednesday, which increased on Friday. He will “be missing a race in which he was very confident about his chances after his bronze medal at last Sunday's World Championships,” according to the team's press release.

Amador suffered the fractured collarbone in a crash at Thursday's Gran Piemonte, also putting an end to his season.

Movistar was at the start of the Tour of Lombardy this morning with Juanjo Cobo, Sergio Pardilla, Giovanni Visconti, Marzio Bruseghin, Rui Costa, Jose Gutierrez, Pablo Lastras and Nairo Quintana.