Last-minute rider substitutions at Grand Tours are a time-honoured part of the sport, but in the case of Josh Giddings, the 2026 Giro d’Italia, and the chain of cause-and-effect that has led the 22-year-old Briton to the startline in Nessebar, Bulgaria, there are surely very few precedents indeed.
Originally set to race next in the Classique Dunkerque and Four Days of Dunkerque in the second half of May, on Tuesday Giddings received an urgent phone call from his Lotto-Intermarché team, explaining that several of their riders due to race the Giro had fallen ill.
A possible outbreak of campylobacter – a type of bacteria responsible for gastrointestinal infections – sparked from racing over cow manure on the course of the Famenne Ardenne Classic last weekend, is widely seen as the prime suspect.
“Then, as I already knew two days ago, in the evening I already got in contact about the flights just in case it was going to happen that I’d have to come to the Giro. Then I just packed my suitcase as soon as I had the first phone call – I wanted to be prepared as a ‘just in case.’
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