Kiwi cyclist Sam Bewley has crashed out of his debut Tour de France, during a chaotic 10th stage.
Bewley (Mitchelton-Scott) fractured his wrist 100km into the 168.5km journey in a mass crash that left several riders in agony. As a result, Bewley has been forced to abandon the Tour.
Several big names hit the deck throughout the day, with Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), climber Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling) and Jumbo-Visma's Robert Gesink also affected.
Meanwhile, Bewley's Mitchelton-Scott outfit is one of four teams that has had a staff member test positive for coronavirus.
One staff member from each of the French outfits Cofidis and AG2R-La Mondiale, Britain's Team Ineos and Australia's Mitchelton-Scott have contracted the virus.
Another New Zealander, Jack Bauer, also rides for Mitchelton-Scott.
French health officials have the power to disqualify any team from the Tour if two members test positive for COVID-19.
On Wednesday (NZ time), all riders tested negative and were able to start the stage, with Ireland's Sam Bennett winning a sprint finish.
The Irishman completed his first-ever Tour stage win to grab the green points jersey, outsprinting Australian Caleb Ewan and Slovakian Peter Sagan.
"It's really weird, because everything seemed to go too perfectly in the end," Bennett says. "I was shocked, I can't believe it happened.
"After the line, it just didn't hit me - I've waited so many years for this to happen. It took a while for it to really sink in."
Slovenian Primoz Roglic still leads overall, with Jumbo-Visma teammate and leading Kiwi George Bennett 36 minutes behind in 28th.
Reuters.
