Team Sky's hopes of winning the Giro d'Italia appear over after Mikel Landa withdrew from a stage 10 that was won by 21-year-old home favourite Giulio Ciccone.
Landa, the 26-year-old Spaniard, was eighth in the overall general classification standings at the start of the day and had put himself in contention for the maglia rosa after an impressive ride through the countryside in Sunday's individual time trial.
However, after Monday's rest day, Landa abandoned the race early on on Tuesday having fallen six minutes behind the peloton at one stage, with his team explaining a bout of sickness was to blame for his below-par performance.
Bardiani CSF rider Ciccone breezed away from the chasing pack to clinch the 219-km stage victory in what is his maiden tour, while overnight GC leader Gianluca Brambilla lost the pink jersey to Bob Jungels having fallen off the pace on the penultimate climb with 18km remaining.
Nicolas Roche came home 33rd inn today's stage, leaving him 26th overall, some nine minutes behind the leader. Philip Deignan is back in 109th place after finishing 139th.
On Landa's withdrawal, Team Sky general manager Dave Brailsford said: "Mikel was ill overnight but we spoke this morning and he started today's stage with the hope of being able to pull through.
"It was pretty clear that the illness had badly affected him and that he wasn't going to be able to continue.
"We are really disappointed for Mikel, who was riding well and looking forward to attacking in the mountains and animating the race.
"However, we came here as a team and we'll continue as a team.
There is a long way still to go and, although our focus was on Mikel, there's plenty of time for us to still make an impact at this Giro."
