UAE’s Giro d’Italia nightmare gets even worse as Adam Yates abandons after bloody Stage 2 crash

UAE Team Emirates - XRG’s disastrous start to the 2026 Giro d’Italia has taken another major turn, with Adam Yates abandoning the race after his heavy crash on Stage 2.

Yates will not start Stage 3 from Plovdiv to Sofia, ending his general classification challenge before the Giro has even left Bulgaria. The British rider had already lost almost 14 minutes on the road to Veliko Tarnovo after being caught in the mass crash that tore through the peloton with around 23 kilometres remaining.

The image of Yates reaching the finish told the story of UAE’s day. He crossed the line bloodied and battered, his face marked by the crash and his overall hopes already effectively gone. Now his Giro is over entirely.

Yates’ withdrawal deepens what had already become a nightmare opening weekend for UAE.

Jay Vine and Marc Soler were both forced out after the same crash and taken to hospital for further checks, leaving the team without three important pieces after just two stages of the race. Antonio Morgado was also involved in the incident and later spoke of pain after the finish, while Jan Christen emerged as the team’s clearest positive from the day after finishing in the front group.

The crash came on wet roads before the final climb to the Lyaskovets Monastery, shortly after the early breakaway had been caught and the peloton was beginning to organise for the finale. The scale of the incident was serious enough for the race to be temporarily neutralised, with medical vehicles occupied by the number of fallen riders.

For UAE, the consequences were immediate and severe. What began as a Giro with multiple cards to play has quickly turned into a rescue operation.

Yates had arrived at the Giro as one of the major GC names expected to test Jonas Vingegaard and the other overall contenders once the race reached the high mountains. Instead, the race has already lost him before the first rest day.

The same crash also removed Santiago Buitrago from the race, with Bahrain Victorious confirming the Colombian had abandoned and been taken to hospital for further examinations.

Guillermo Thomas Silva won Stage 2 and moved into the Maglia Rosa, while Vingegaard attacked on the final climb before the front trio were caught in the final kilometre. Yet for UAE, the stage result was almost secondary to the damage caused by one brutal crash.

The Giro continues towards Sofia on Sunday, but UAE’s race has already been transformed. Before the Corsa Rosa has even reached Italy, one of its strongest squads has lost much of the structure it brought to chase pink.