![\"ccs-62657-0-56128000-1527072733.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-56128000-1527072733.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nHe took the decision in conjunction with the team doctor and sporting directors; and departed the team following the individual time trial that finished in Rovereto on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, Louis has come down with what seems to be a viral upper respiratory infection. He has systemic symptoms including fever which preclude him from participating further in the Giro for fear of dangerous complications,\u201d explained Dr. Adrian Rotunno.<\/p>\n
Meintjes has now returned home where he will focus on making a swift recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously really disappointing to have to stop the Giro d\u2019Italia in the final week but my body just doesn\u2019t want to cooperate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt my condition was gradually improving during the race and I was looking forward to playing a role at the three upcoming mountain stages but it is just not possible. The team is riding well, Ben (O\u2019Connor) has been very impressive so I know the team will finish the Giro strongly. I will do everything I can to get healthy and come back stronger,\u201d Meintjes added.<\/p>\n
Meintjes is the second member of our team to withdraw from the race following the earlier exit of Igor Anton.<\/p>\n
Ben O\u2019Connor, who currently occupies 12th position on the GC, remains our top-ranked rider where he\u2019ll be ably supported by Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Jaco Venter, Ryan Gibbons, Ben King and Natnael Berhane on the run into Rome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka rider Louis Meintjes has been forced to withdraw from the Giro d\u2019Italia due to illness. The 26-year-old, riding the event for the first time, had been inside the top-50 on the General Classification after stage 16 but had been struggling with flu-like symptoms in recent days. He took the decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[397,344],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-15957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-louis-meintjes","tag-team-dimension-data"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15957"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=15957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}