Arnaud De Lie had been suffering since the Giro d'Italia began and it became too much to bear on Tuesday as the Belgian's race came to a premature end on the back half of stage 4.
His teammate Milan Menten suffered through the stage to finish second-last in Cosenza, over 18 minutes down on the winner, but joined De Lie in abandoning on Wednesday morning, Lotto Intermarché confirmed.
Both riders fell ill ahead of the Giro with a stomach bug that was blamed on cow manure on the roads of a race in Belgium the previous week, which De Lie won.
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The Belgian sprinter was caught behind the late crash on the opening stage in Bulgaria but was in no shape to sprint for victory anyway, as was evidenced the following day when he suffered on the day's late climb and finished down in 155th place.
De Lie made the transfer from Bulgaria to Italy but his condition did not improve on the rest day, and he was dropped once again on stage 4. Most of the sprinters were in fact distanced on the category-2 Cozzo Tunno climb inside the final 50km of Tuesday's stage, but it was soon confirmed over race radio that De Lie had climbed into his team car and abandoned the race.
"Sadly, the rest day didn’t bring the recovery Arnaud had hoped for. He was forced to leave this Giro due to illness. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in the peloton very soon," Lotto-Intermarché posted to social media after stage 4 Tuesday.
"Although Arnaud De Lie raised his arms in victory at the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic, that win unfortunately came with an unpleasant aftermath as many riders fell ill due to bacteria on the road surface during that same race."
On the morning of stage 5, the team confirmed the departure of Menten too.
"Milan Menten will not start stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia. Like several riders from our team, he fell ill over the past week," they wrote in a social media post.
"Milan travelled to Bulgaria and Italy hoping to fully recover under the supervision of our doctors, but unfortunately that has not been possible. He still feels too ill to continue his Giro.
"We wish Milan a safe flight back to Belgium and hope to see him back racing soon."
The riders were thought to have become infected with campylobacter after winning the Famenne Ardenne Classic earlier this month. There were reports of cow manure on the route, with the rain soaking it across the roads and riders' wheels spraying it into the peloton.
Several riders fell ill, with reports of some requiring hospital treatment. Lotto Intermarché had to pull Liam Slock from their Giro squad, drafting in debutant Josh Giddings as a last-minute replacement.
And now the freak incident has resulted in their leading hope for a stage win having to head home, as well as their potential plan B. The team will continue with only six riders for the remaining stages.
"I felt OK until during the flight to Bulgaria, I felt myself getting worse and worse. I don't think I have ever felt this bad," De Lie said after the opening three stages.
De Lie will now turn his attention to the Tour de France. He was always set to make an early exit from the Giro to avoid the mountainous stages later in the race.
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