Medical Reports & Withdrawals Giro d'Italia 2026 Stage 21 - British rider Sean Flynn leaves just short of Rome as illness takes one last victim
Cycling
The Giro d’Italia has long built its reputation on attrition as much as spectacle. Across three weeks of racing between 8 May and 31 May, crashes, illness, exhaustion, and withdrawals can completely reshape the race, whether in chaotic bunch sprints, freezing mountain conditions or the brutal final week deep in the Alps and Dolomites.
This live Giro d’Italia medical reports and withdrawals hub will be updated throughout the race with the latest confirmed injuries, DNS, DNF and rider abandonments. As teams release medical updates and riders undergo further assessment after crashes or illness, this article will track all verified developments affecting the 2026 Giro d’Italia peloton and the fight for the Maglia Rosa.
Stage 1
After a relatively quiet opening day, the peloton was rocked by a mass crash in the finale. Although all involved managed to get up and finish the stage, some of the notable names to hit the deck were the likes of: Dylan Groenewegen, Kaden Groves, Erlend Blikra and Matteo Moschetti.
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Stage 2
Stage 2 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia was one rocked by a mass crash as the race headed towards the finale on wet, slippery roads. Five confirmed DNFs in the form of Jay Vine, Marc Soler, Adne Holter, and Santiago Buitrago, but with many, many more riders going down in the incident, including Adam Yates, Derek Gee, Antonio Morgado and Corbin Strong most notably, it's likely peloton will be feeling the effects of the crash for the next few days at least.
Stage 3
For the first time in this Giro, the stage was relatively calm and without major incidents. Picnic's Timo de Jong was involved in a crash, but the majority of the peloton managed to escape unscathed from the third day of racing.
However that does not means riders have not left the race. At UAE's camp, it has been confirmed that the previously withdrawn Jay Vine and Marc Soler have suffered the following injuries: Elbow fracture and concussion for Vine; fractured pelvis for Soler. Their teammate Adam Yates has not started today's stage after having been assessed with lacerations to his ear and a post-stage diagnosed concussion.
Andrea Vendrame of Jayco also did not start the stage after having been diagnosed with three fractured vertebrae, a consequence of the stage 2 crash.
The mass crash that took down dozens of riders on stage 2 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia
Stage 4
GC favourite Jonas Vingegaard was dealt a blow pre-stage with the abandonment of key mountain domestique Wilco Kelderman. On the stage itself, two further riders then stepped off the bike with superstar sprinters Kaden Groves and Arnaud De Lie both abandoning the race.
Stage 5
The stage saw Milan Menten not take to the start, after continuing to suffer from the same stomach issues that saw Arnaud de Lie abandon the race earlier on. Joshua Giddings of Lotto also left the race during the day, alongside Timo de Jong and Samuele Battistella - more crash victim from previous days.
Luca Paletti crashed during the day, and there was a non-televised moment in which Tudor's Mathys Rondel collided with the UAE car, breaking it's rear windshield. Nevertheless, the French rider continued the race.
The two riders who battled for the stage win, Afonso Eulálio and Igor Arrieta, then both crashed in the final kilometers of the race, both in their own incident by themselves.
Stage 6
Just the one DNS at the start of the day with Felix Engelhardt of Team Jayco AlUla abandoning overnight.
It was another chaotic day on the bike though, with the likes of Jonathan Milan, Matteo Sobrero, Johannes Kulset, Nelson Oliveira and most worryingly Nico Denz coming down in early crashes. The finale was then marred by a mass crash as Unibet Rose Rockets slipped on the wet cobbles with their sprint hope Dylan Groenewegen among the most notable riders down along with Milan again, Orluis Aular, Tobias Lund Andresen and Jan Christen.
Massive crash in the final corner of stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia 2026
Stage 7
Nothing to note.
Stage 8
Jake Stewart abandoned the race, still as a result of the mass crash on stage 2 that continues to make victims. During the stage, Fabio Christen crashed hard whilst trying to form a breakaway, abandoning the race with immediate effect.
Stage 9
Nothing to note.
Stage 10
Nothing to note.
Stage 11
The stage saw three riders withdraw from it, one of them being Astana's Davide Ballerini - winner of stage 6 - after a rough crash early in the day. Martin Tjotta of Uno-X and Edward Planckaert of Alpecin also did not finish the stage.
There was a large crash affecting the outcome of the day too, as in the breakaway, Christian Scaroni, Lennert van Eetvelt and Filippo Zana all went down in a decisive phase of the race.
Stage 12
The Lotto - Intermarche team are now down to just four riders left at the Giro d'Italia as their pre-race GC hopeful Lennert Van Eetvelt becomes the latest member of the team to abandon. The illness among the peloton also continues to take hold with both Javier Romo and Sjoerd Bax out of the race.
Stage 13
Nothing to note.
Stage 14
Just the one rider departing on Stage 14. XDS Astana Team's Christian Scaroni abandoning. His team have revealed the reason to be: "acute pharyngotracheitis with fever that occurred overnight."
Stage 15
Enrico Zanoncello was disqualified from the Giro d'Italia after headbutting a rider, Robert Donaldson, ahead of the final sprint. This crash was not the only one, as in the final urban circuit in Milano there were a few skirmishes and falls due to the poor road surface.
Stage 16
Pascal Ackermann withdrew from the race after coming down with stomach issues over the rest day.
Stage 17
Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team were knocked down to just four riders remaining as former Canadian national champion Nickolas Zukowsky left the race.
Stage 18
All riders started and finished stage 18 but there were some crashes. Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Jai Hindley had minor crashes before white jersey Afonso Eulálio became the most high profile with 49 kilometers to go. Hartthijs de Vries was also involved in that particular skirmish.
Stage 19
The stage started without James Shaw and Michael Valgren of EF Education-EasyPost, who were pulled out in order to focus on other races. During the stage NSN sprinter Ethan Vernon withdrew; whilst maglia ciclamino contender Jhonatan Narváez was a huge hit as the team revealed he crashed after the end of stage 18 and was suffering from a hand injury. Mark Donovan of Pinarello Q36.5 crashed early in the race.
Stage 20
Nothing to note.
Stage 21
All but one of the field made Rome. Brit Sean Flynn was DNS as the start of the day due to illness.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- What kind of sauce is on that rice? Ketchup?Kbd05-11-2026
- 18 broken bones. 78 crashes, among 30 rider per year is a lot. so for a rider over 15 seasons, they will break their bones 7-8 times and crash 38 times.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- i dont think he is ready ot win against the top 2 or the 2nd rung of evenepoel, del toro , Almeida. In the third week in the TDF he was very very defensive, no attacks. i think he was exhausted. right now he needs time not the brutal Giro or the intense TDF.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- Rota is an excellent rider to get in a break with because he always does his turnchapmanesque04-11-2026
- That 3000 extra that the Tour de France is built up in the flat stages
Rafionain-Glas04-11-2026 - maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
- Orts was a super smart signing with the new rules regarding cross and UCI pointsmij04-11-2026
- yeah... you're right...PogiSloFans04-11-2026
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
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