COVID-19, heat and crashes trigger flood of abandons at Tour de Suisse

It was another hot day at the Tour de Suisse
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Tour de Suisse set out from Ambri on Thursday for the fifth of its eight stages, but with 17 fewer riders in the the peloton than the day before, with a total of 27 riders now out of the race.

A combination of heat, crashes, and what's looking increasingly like a COVID-19 outbreak have combined to take a chunk out of the field, just over two weeks out from the Tour de France. 

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Patrick Fletcher

Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.