Shortly after the Stage 9 time trial, stage winner and overall general classification leader Remco Evenepoel tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the race.[19] While by tradition, when a leader pulls out through injury after the completion of the stage, the new 'leader' does not take on the jersey until the end of the following stage, the rest day in grand tours is treated as a stage for those purposes. As such, at the completion of the rest day, Geraint Thomas would become the new maglia rosa, and will wear pink when the race resumes at the beginning of Tuesday morning.
The new general classifications standings would become as follows:
Nine riders, including Evenepoel, Domenico Pozzovivo, Stefan Kung and Rigoberto Uran did not start the race after the rest day, Evenepoel announcing such on Sunday evening, releasing the maglia rosa for Geraint Thomas to wear. Top-10 rider and GC contender Aleksandr Vlasov abandoned the race midway through the stage, while fellow top-10 rider Jay Vine crashed and lost over ten minutes to the maglia rosa group.
The stage was marked by further abandonments. Four members of the Soudal Quickstep team tested positive for Covid-19, three days after team leader Remco Evenepoel left the race after a positive test. A crash on a wet descent late in the stage took out many of the leaders, with Thomas, Roglic, Sivikov and Geoghegen Hart all brought down. while maglia rosa Thomas and his closest rival Roglic remounted and rejoined the peloton, third place Geoghegen Hart was forced to abandon and go to hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken hip, while top ten teammate Pavel Sivakov managed to remount, but lost 13 minutes, effectively ending any perceived challenge.
