Tayler Wiles abandons Giro d'Italia Donne due to illness

Tayler Wiles (Trek-Segafredo) did not start stage 3 as illness has forced her to abandon the Giro d'Italia Donne. 

The American talent said that she has been battling sickness that she hasn't been able to recover from it, and revealed her decision to depart from the 10-day race in a post on Instagram Sunday.

"Making the difficult decision to pull out of my favorite race of the year Giro d'Italia Donne today due to a sickness I just can’t quite kick. I’m so sad to leave my teammates but I’ll be cheering for them from afar and I know they will light it up,"  Wiles wrote in a post on Instagram.

Trek-Segafredo have confirmed that Wiles is experiencing cold and bronchitis symptoms.

"Unfortunately Tayler Wiles won’t be at the start of today’s stage of Giro d'Italia Donne due to normal cold and light bronchitis symptoms," the team confirmed on Twitter.

Wiles formed a key part of the Trek-Segafredo team that won the opening team time trial on Friday, which put her compatriot Ruth Winder in the first leader's jersey. 

Wiles and her team went into the Giro d'Italia Donne to support Elisa Longo Borghini in the overall classification. However, the Italian Champion finished an unexpected 32nd place and now sits in 22nd overall at 8:32 off the new maglia rosa, Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx), after the stage 2 at the summit of Prato Nevoso.

Longo Borghini noted that she had a bad day and will try to stay positive for the remaining eight stages of the Giro d'Italia Donne.

“Unfortunately, it was a bad day for me. I was not hoping or expecting this, but it came, and I have to accept it," said Longo Borghini, who was disappointed after stage 2. "Let us now focus on the rest of the Giro – we can still have few chances to do well.”

Trek-Segafredo's Lizzie Deignan is now the highest placed rider in the  overall classification in fourth at 3:31 behind Van der Breggen after the second stage,