A bee sting has forced a cyclist to abandon the Giro d’Italia after they revealed their gruesome injury.
Juan Ayuso suffered an allergic reaction after a bee flew into his helmet and stung his eye.
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Ahead of stage 18 on Thursday, the Spaniard revealed the results of the sting.
Speaking to TNT Sports, he explained: “It’s been a couple of hard days. Yesterday, a bee went inside my helmet and I can’t see out my right eye.”
Ayuso then took his sunglasses off to reveal his swollen cheek and right eye, with his eye almost completely closed.
The 21-year-old continued: “I know it’s going to go viral, but it is what it is.
“The team doctor said it’s best for me not to start, but I really want to try and give my best to be here for the team.
“Yesterday, I was not useful at all because I was really feeling bad, but I hope I can recover for the next days.
“I’m going to try and get past today, I’m not really convinced I can, but I just want to do the first kilometres and see if it’s safe for me to be in the bunch.”
Ayuso attempted to complete the stage after the interview, with the riders heading between Morbegno and Cesano Maderno.
However, he was only able to last an hour before abandoning the race with 110km remaining.
It caps an up-and-down Giro for the UAE Emirates-XRG rider, who had claimed victory in stage seven back on May 16.
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He had struggled with a knee injury during stage 16 on Tuesday, which followed the third and final rest day.
Ayuso had been competing in his first Giro after also withdrawing from last year’s Tour de France.
It followed third and fourth place finishes in the Vuelta a Espana in 2022 and 2023.
Meanwhile, his team-mate Isaac del Toro is closing in on becoming the first Mexican winner of the Giro.
Del Toro topped the general classification going into stage 18, holding the pink jersey with just four stages remaining.
Ahead of Thursday’s stage, he held a 41-second lead over nearest challenger Richard Carapaz.
British cyclist Simon Yates was a further 10 seconds back in third following stage 17, which was won by Del Toro.
The Giro will conclude on Sunday with stage 21 between Vatican Gardens and Rome.
