"At least the struggle makes sense now": Examination reveals Erlend Blikra had been riding Giro with FOUR back fractures
Cycling
Erlend Blikra started the 2026 Giro d'Italia as one of the many sprinter outsiders looking to upset favourites Jonathan Milan and Paul Magnier, but his race had quickly gone sideways during the opening stage finale in Burgas.
The narrow finish in Bulgarian city caused a massive pile-up with multiple top sprinters caught up, including Blikra, who had crossed the finish line last - alongside Matteo Moschetti who had not started the following day. Blikra himself was badly beat up, but opted to continue in the race with eyes set on future sprint opportunities.
And the Norwegian speedster held his ground quite well, finishing 6th in Bulgaria's another sprint finish in Sofia, and came close to another top-10 in crash-mared Napoli finish.
But other than that, Blikra suffered enormously on every climbing day to even reach the finish line, let alone in the time limit. That lasted until stage 11's fast-paced hilly stage to Chiavari where Blikra lost contact with peloton very early into the stage, and despite a help from his teammates, he missed the time cut by one minute. A moment of anger, but also relief.
Riding Grand Tour with four fractures
Throughout the race, Blikra would have complained about a back pain, dating back to the fateful stage 1 crash. But it's taken quite a while for us to learn that Blikra has been riding around Italy with four (!) fractures in his body:
"Examinations after my crash in the first stage of the Giro d’Italia have revealed three fractures in my lower back and a broken rib," he said in an Instagram post.
"Not the answer I was hoping for, but at least the struggle now makes sense," Blikra continued. "The focus is now on recovery. That means no racing for a while, but I will do everything I can to be back as soon as possible," added the fast man from Uno-X Mobility.
At the moment, Blikra is scheduled to start the Vuelta a Espana towards the end of the summer, once again as Uno-X's designated man for bunch finishes. His scheduled leading towards that appointment is not known for the moment, but for now it's clear that recovery will take priority.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
- And the place he calls home is in Slovenia with his parents.RidesHills04-11-2026
- I think Tadej will be working on his new C7 TT position for the Tour de France :-)frieders304-11-2026
- Every great cyclist has at least two Giro/Tour doubles, and in modern cycling or what we call modern cycling, Miguel Indurain is the only guy to do it twice. I think Tadej should go for it and commit if he is putting up good numbers somewhere around January/February.awp04-11-2026
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