“I tried to go over Dylan Groenwegen” - Paul Magnier salvages Giro d’Italia points after crash wrecks hat-trick sprint bid

Paul Magnier’s bid for a third sprint victory at the 2026 Giro d’Italia was derailed in the most chaotic fashion in Napoli, as the Soudal - Quick-Step fast man was forced to hurdle his way through the wreckage of the final corner crash before still fighting on to protect his Maglia Ciclamino lead.

The Frenchman had already won two of the first three stages and looked well placed again on Stage 6, sitting exactly where he wanted to be as the peloton charged onto the cobbled finale. But when Dylan Groenewegen slid out in front of him on the wet surface, Magnier’s sprint instantly turned into a rescue mission.

“Everything had started very well,” Magnier said in conversation with Cycling Pro Net after the stage. “Once again, the team did a really good job. I think I was in third or fourth position in that corner with 300 metres to go. It was really what we wanted.”

From there, the race fell apart in front of him. Groenewegen crashed as Unibet Rose Rockets looked to have delivered the perfect lead-out, and Magnier had nowhere clean to go. “Unfortunately, in front of me they crashed and I tried to avoid it as best I could,” he explained. “I tried to go over Dylan. I hope he is okay, because it was still a crash on the cobbles and that always hurts.”

Davide Ballerini ultimately took the stage win for XDS Astana, capitalising on the broken sprint after the crash had scattered several of the main contenders. Jonathan Milan also avoided the worst of the incident but later criticised the choice of such a complicated finish on wet cobbles.

For Magnier, the frustration was clear. The sprint had been set up, the position was there, and a possible hat-trick was still alive until the final few hundred metres. Yet even after being knocked out of contention, he quickly remounted and continued sprinting for what he could still salvage. “Then I tried to get back on my bike and give the best I still had to give,” said Magnier. “I think I maybe did the fastest last 300 metres of the group, but unfortunately that was not enough to win.”

That effort still mattered. With the points jersey on his shoulders, Magnier knew the day was not completely lost even once victory had slipped away. “It still looked complicated,” he admitted when asked if he believed he could come back. “But I have the Maglia Ciclamino on my shoulders, so the goal is still to try to take as many points as possible, and that is what I did in the end.”

Magnier’s response again underlined why he has been the standout sprinter of the opening week. Even when the win disappeared, he stayed switched on, chased points and limited the damage in a finish that could easily have ended his day completely.

For Soudal - Quick-Step, though, this was still a major missed opportunity. Their lead-out had placed him where he needed to be, and the Frenchman had already shown in Bulgaria that he had the speed to beat the biggest names in the race.

Instead, Stage 6 became another Giro finale dominated by crashes, tension and complaints over safety, with Magnier left to wonder what might have happened had the sprint stayed upright.