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 At UAE's camp, it has been confirmed that the previously withdrawn Jay Vine and Marc Soler have suffered the following injuries: Elbow fracture and concussion for Vine; fractured pelvis for Soler.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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- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
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