Tadej Pogacar was infected with COVID-19 during his Tour de France preparations

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Tadej Pogacar was infected with COVID-19 during his Tour de France preparations, the two-time champion revealed Thursday — two days before the race starts in Italy.

The Slovenian is aiming for the rare Tour and Giro d’Italia double after dominating the Italian race last month.

Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, said that the virus only prevented him from training for one day.

“It’s not as serious anymore. Especially if your body already had the virus before and I had it once or twice,” Pogačar said, adding that he caught the virus about 10 days ago. “It wasn’t too bad, just like a cold. It passed really fast.

“I stopped for one day and then (did) some rollers inside,” he added. “Then when I wasn’t sick anymore, I was riding outside.”

Pogacar has been dominant this season, winning four of the five races he's entered and collecting 14 victories in 31 days of racing — including Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The last rider to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year was Marco Pantani in 1998.

After back-to-back Tour titles, Pogacar then finished runner-up to Jonas Vingegaard the last two years.

Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. He sustained a broken collarbone and ribs and a collapsed lung and has not raced since.

“I’m just happy to be here at the start line of the Tour de France — I think that’s a victory in itself," Vingegaard said. “I did a lot of work, a lot of good work, and I’m not in a bad shape. But it was such a bad crash that everything from here is a bonus."

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

A man in an uniform dating from the Florentine Republic walks ahead of the presentation of participation cycling teams in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Britain's Mark Cavendish greets spectators during the team presentation in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, center rear, arrives for the team presentation in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Britain's Mark Cavendish greets spectators as he arrives for the team presentation in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar greets spectators as he lines up with his UAE Team Emirates riders for the team presentation in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Cylings fans raise their hands to catch the water bottle of Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar during the team presentation in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

UAE Team Emirates riders with Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, left, line up during the team presentation in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates fellow riders leave for a team training in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An illness forced Brian Ortega to withdraw Saturday hours before his scheduled fight with Diego Lopes in the co-main event at UFC 303, and Dan Ige was called in as the replacement.

UFC President Dana White said the bout likely would have been called off if Ige hadn’t been available.

“There would have been no other options,” White said.

The match is the warm-up bout to the main event between light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and top-ranked challenger Jiri Prochazka.

White said Ortega was running a fever and wasn't ready to go on. Ige, who is from Honolulu but trains in Las Vegas, already was in town preparing for another fight.

“It's all about opportunity,” White said. “He jumped at it. Who's hotter than Lopes right now?”

White joked that Ige likely was sitting on his couch about to order the pay-per-view when he got the call.

Jeff Mullen, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, told ESPN that because Ige fought Feb. 10 in Las Vegas, that made the process smoother to get him approved.

“We already had his medicals and all his requirements completed,” Mullen said. “It was a perfectly approved matchup. I checked with the attorneys to make sure everything was in order.”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Featherweight fighters Brian Ortega, left, and Diego Lopes face off during a UFC 303 news conference Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)