The opening week in Italy has concluded and brings a peloton of 167 riders to the second rest day of the Giro d'Italia. Across nine stages, 17 riders have had to pull out due to a combination of crashes and illness.
Stage 1 in Bulgaria and stages 7 and 9 in Italy saw all the riders who started each day complete the routes. The last two riders who dropped out of the Giro were Fabio Christen (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Jake Stewart (NSN Pro Cycling), both leaveing on stage 8.
Christen crashed on Saturday and climbed into a team car, though no injuries have been confirmed yet. For Stewart, it was the lingering effect of an earlier crash that spelled the end of his race.
"After his crash on Stage 2, he developed knee pain that worsened despite treatment. By the medical team, the decision was made to withdraw and focus on recovery," NSN confirmed on social media.
A pair of nasty crashes on the first three stages in Bulgaria took a big toll, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG to worst affected, losing Adam Yates, Jay Vine and Marc Soler – though they've since won two stages.
The team of the overall favourite Jonas Vingegaard are also down in numbers after Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) didn't make it to the start line on the morning of stage 4, needing time to recover from injuries sustained in a stage 2 crash.
Several sprinters have also been forced out, with Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) quitting with injury, and Lotto Intermarché pair Arnaud De Lie and Milan Menten suffering with an illness likely caused by cowpats on the road in a race before the Giro.
With one day left before the race's first official race day – the first officially being a travel day – anyone struggling will be trying to make it through one more stage so they can rest and recoup on Monday.
Most riders started the race intending to get to Rome, but as the three-week race takes its toll, not everyone will get there, with tens of riders often dropping out over the 21 stages of a Grand Tour.
Riders may abandon for a variety of reasons, including crashes, illness, or just pure fatigue. Riders can quit mid-stage, climbing into a car or ambulance, or they may decide not to start the next stage.
If a rider stops mid-stage, they will be marked as 'did not finish' (DNF), whilst DNS stands for 'did not start'.
Riders can also be obliged to leave the race by the commissaires, either with a disqualification (DSQ) for serious rule infringements, or for finishing outside the time limit on a given stage (OTL).
Here, we will track all the riders who drop out of the 2026 Giro on the roads between Bulgaria and Rome.
Giro d'Italia 2026 abandons
Stage 2
- Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5) – DNS, stage 1 crash
- Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – DNF, stage 2 crash
- Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility) – DNF, stage 2 crash
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – DNF, stage 2 crash
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) - DNF, stage 2 crash
Stage 3
- Andrea Vendrame (Jayco AlUla) - DNS, stage 2 crash
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – DNS, stage 2 crash
Stage 4
- Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) – DNS, injuries from stage 2 crash
- Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Intermarché) - DNF, illness
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) - DNF, injuries from stage 1 crash
Stage 5
- Milan Menten (Lotto Intermarché) – DNS, illness
- Timo de Jong (Pincic-PostNL) - DNF, injuries
- Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarché) - DNF
- Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost) - DNF, injuries
Stage 6
- Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) - DNS
Stage 8
- Fabio Christen (Pinarello-Q36.5) – DNF, crash
- Jake Stewart (NSN) – DNF, lingering injuries from stage 2 crash
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