Tour de France 2022: Enric Mas Nicolau drops out of Stage 19 after returning positive Covid-19 test

Updated 22/07/2022 at 12:26 GMT

Covid-19 continued to cause chaos at the Tour de France as one of Movistar's lead riders, Enric Mas Nicolau, produced a positive test result. The man who has twice finished as runner-up at the Vuelta a Espana and currently sits in 11th place in the Tour's General Classification will sit out the rest of the race.

Tour de France Stage 19 profile and route map: Castelnau-Magnoac – Cahors

Enric Mas Nicolau has dropped out of Stage 19 of the Tour de France after returning positive Covid-19 test.

The 27-year-old Movistar rider was leading the charge for his side, sitting in 11th place in the General Classification, 24 minutes behind leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).

He finished sixth in last year's Tour and fifth in 2020, but his best results have come in the Vuelta a Espana, where he has twice finished second.

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But the man once tipped as the next Alberto Contador will now miss out on Stage 19's flat 188.3km ride from Castelnau-Magnoac to Cahors as well as the remaining two stages.

The Tour de France has been plagued by a wave of Covid-19 cases.

Last week, Magnus Cort (EF Education–EasyPost) and Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) withdrew from the race after testing positive.

Four-time winner Chris Froome (Israel Premier-Tech) also pulled out 24 hours earlier.

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