“Go, go, you are alone!” - Davide Ballerini escapes Giro d’Italia crash chaos as Astana’s fairytale opening week gets even better

XDS Astana Team’s dream opening week at the 2026 Giro d’Italia continued in the most dramatic fashion on Stage 6, as Davide Ballerini survived the late crash chaos in Napoli to sprint to victory on a finish that turned treacherous in the rain.

After Guillermo Thomas Silva had already delivered a stage win and a spell in the Maglia Rosa during the Bulgarian Grande Partenza, Astana struck again on Italian soil. This time it was Ballerini who made the most of a chaotic finale, as Dylan Groenewegen crashed on the wet cobbles after Unibet Rose Rockets had led the peloton superbly into the final corner.

For several kilometres, it looked as though Groenewegen’s team had timed the run-in perfectly. They controlled the twisting roads, pinch points and approach into Napoli, only for everything to unravel within sight of the line. Ballerini, tucked close enough to profit but alert enough to stay upright, came through the confusion and was then told over race radio that the chance was his.

“I entered the last corner. I knew it was like a double corner on the pave and especially it was starting to get wet, so I knew it was really slippery,” Ballerini told Cycling Pro Net after the stage. “I tried to stay safe as much as possible and I saw the two riders in the front on the left crash.”

The final corner had been flagged all day as a danger point. The cobbled surface, the late turns and the slight rise to the line already made it a finish where positioning and timing would be everything. Once the first drops of rain arrived, the margin for error all but disappeared.

Groenewegen was the most visible victim of that. The Dutchman’s front wheel slipped away just as Unibet looked ready to launch him towards a possible first win of this Giro. Jonathan Milan also had to pick his way through the chaos, later questioning the route choice after another crash-marred finale.

Ballerini was not untouched by the danger either. Even after avoiding the fall in front of him, he still felt his own bike slide as he opened the sprint. “Just outside of the corner I started the sprint. I also lost the back wheel,” he explained. “But on the radio I heard, I think it was Malucelli, telling me, ‘Go, go, you are alone, you are alone.’ So I started and I pushed to the line.”

That call proved decisive. With the sprint completely broken apart behind him, Ballerini had the clearest path to the finish and gave Astana another major moment in a Giro that has already exceeded all expectations for the team.

Ballerini’s victory adds another layer to what has become one of the stories of the race’s first week. Astana arrived at the Giro with stage-hunting ambitions, but few would have predicted two stage wins and time in the pink jersey within the opening six stages.

Silva’s breakthrough in Bulgaria had already given the team a historic high. Ballerini’s win in Napoli now turns that into something more than a one-off moment. “Yes, there are also other guys here with really good form,” Ballerini said. “I think we already showed it. We are a really big group, mostly Italian, but also Silva, Lopez and the others. We are trying to learn Italian today too, so they are improving really fast.”

On a day when the sprint favourites were left frustrated, when Unibet’s perfect lead-out vanished in a split-second slide, and when the Giro again found drama in the final metres, Astana walked away with another win. For Ballerini, it was a sharp, instinctive victory. For the team, it was another sign that their opening week has become one of the race’s most unexpected success stories.