Richie Porte abandons Tirreno-Adriatico with illness

Richie Porte (Sky) abandoned the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race on Sunday in southern Italy after the key mountain stage. He felt ill on Sunday morning and the team said that he was vomiting.

"Unfortunately due to illness which occurred overnight it's been decided that Richie is too unwell to start the race," Team Sky Doctor Alan Farrell said in a press release. "We expect him to recover quickly and hope to have him back in training within the next 48 hours."

The Australian remains with the race, where he sat fourth in the overall after leading up the Selvarotonda climb yesterday. He will likely travel to his base in Monaco to recover and prepare for the Volta a Catalunya, March 24 to 30, where he will race with Chris Froome.

Froome planned to lead Sky at Tirreno-Adriatico this week but pulled out due to back pains. Sky took Porte off the Paris-Nice start list and had him start Tirreno as team leader. Porte won the French stage race Paris-Nice last year and Froome placed second in Tirreno-Adriatico.

Adding to the teams woes, Geraint Thomas crashed and abandoned in yesterday's stage of Paris-Nice. He had led the race for two days.

Team doctor Richard Usher said, "Geraint's got multiple bruises and abrasions but we've cleaned him up and he won't need a trip to the hospital."

Cycling Weekly spoke to team Sky's press officer, but Porte did not respond for this article.

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