"You will never learn" - Patrick Lefevere slams Giro d'Italia organizers with safety criticism

The 2026 Giro d'Italia has been largely marked by crashes so far, mainly in the sprint stages which have affected many of the fast men. Amongst the critics is Patrick Lefevere, who has pointed out the repetitive behaviour in the Giro's organizers inability to solve the problems at hand.

“I have already shouted it a few times during this Giro: you will never learn. Italian negligence is timeless," Lefevere said in his weekly Het Nieuwsblad column. As it is a 21-day race, big incidents are rather inevitable, however there are different circumstances for each of them.

In the case of stage 1, there was a massive pile-up inside the final kilometer which took away the opportunity from many sprinters and led to the withdrawal of Kaden Groves and Matteo Moschetti. The sprint had regular barriers with its base featuring metal feet - something which in many races is not used anymore, as they have been a cause for big crashes in the past, aside from not protecting the riders that crash into them.

The work of SafeR, in Lefevere's opinion, is also not helping: “Today, one more committee is making sure nothing happens. The result is there for everyone to see every day in the Giro.”

On stage 2, a mass crash heading into the race's first hilly day was not caused by organizers' decisions but rather the high speeds and a tense fight for positioning - whilst many also argue that UAE's tyre choice is to blame for the incident - but it has been a central point of the race.

However on stage 6 into Napoli, the falls returned to the spotlight. The forecast pointed towards rain, but there was no neutralization for the 'new' finale in Napoli that the organizers decided on this year, leaving its former sea-side avenue finish in order to take the riders up to one of the city's central squares.

The final kilometer featured a cobbled road and a full U-turn on wet cobbles, which inevitably led to a crash. The likes of Tobias Lund Andresen, Dylan Groenewegen and Jonathan Milan were all stripped of an opportunity to fight for an important win; even maglia ciclamino Paul Magnier was only able to make a comeback to third. On social media, the criticism was intense, with the grand majority pointing towards a crash that 'everyone saw coming'.

With the rainy weather continuing to affect the Corsa Rosa, the worries remain that more substantial crashes may take place within the coming weeks.