Bulgaria was supposed to be the preamble. Three sprint-friendly days before the Giro d’Italia got serious in Italy. Instead, the Grande Partenza delivered chaos, carnage, and a rest day that has left the English-speaking contingent counting both the cost and the opportunity heading into the real race. IDL Pro cycling takes the pulse of the Brits, Americans, Aussies, and Canadians in Italy.

Vine and Yates out after horrific crash

The defining moment of the weekend came on stage 2. With 23 kilometres to go on the long, rain-soaked road into Veliko Tarnovo, wet roads triggered a pile-up that brought down roughly 30 riders and ripped through the English-speaking contingent harder than any other group.

Adam Yates bore the worst of it. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader went over the barriers, finished the stage covered in blood and mud, and lost more than 13 minutes to the GC group. Overnight, delayed concussion symptoms developed — and his race was over before stage 3 even began. Our full medical update covers every rider affected.
Jay Vine‘s day was worse still. The Australian was taken to hospital, where doctors confirmed a broken elbow and concussion. He is out of the race. It is another cruel entry in a career that has already seen too much bad luck on the road.

Gee-West: down but not out

Derek Gee-West was also caught in the stage 2 pile-up. But the Canadian showed the grit that makes him a contender. He remounted, chased alone for several kilometres, and limited his losses to just over a minute — a feat his Lidl-Trek sports director Bernie Eisel called remarkable. “It looked really, really worrying when he got back on the bike,” Eisel told Cyclingnews. “He was stopped there forever.”

Gee-West now sits 41st overall, 1 minute and 11 seconds down on race leader Guillermo Thomas Silva. That is a deficit — but not a death sentence. He came fourth at last year’s Giro without being at his best in the opening week and found his form when the final mountains arrived. At the time of writing, Gee-West is fighting on.

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Gee-West lost over a minute on stage 2

Groves: battered and bruised, but still riding

Kaden Groves had already taken his hit before stage 2. The Australian sprinter from Alpecin-Premier Tech crashed in the final kilometre of stage 1 in Burgas, collecting abrasions to both shoulders, his calf, and his elbow. He started both subsequent stages, but he was not himself. In Sofia on stage 3, his team made the call early.
“Kaden didn’t find his best legs today, so we switched plans and sprinted with Jensen [Plowright],” the team confirmed, with Plowright coming home 18th. The Italian sprint stages are still ahead. Can Groves heal up well enough with just a day’s rest? We’ll find out on stage 4, the next possible opportunity for the fast men.

O’Connor and Storer: good news for the Aussies

Ben O’Connor has the most reason to smile heading into Italy. Jayco AlUla’s GC leader survived both crashes without incident and sits 25th overall — 10 seconds off the pace, in the same large group as Jonas Vingegaard. He has twice finished fourth at this race. Everything remains in place for a real shot at the podium.
Michael Storer was caught up in the stage 2 crash but came through it. The Tudor rider sits 26th, also 10 seconds down. He will shift focus to mountain breakaways as the race moves into more explosive terrain.
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Ben O’Connor is only 10 seconds off the lead

Kuss, Sheffield, Turner and Haig – jobs well done

Sepp Kuss delivered exactly what Visma | Lease a Bike needed from him — an uneventful Bulgaria. He helped keep Jonas Vingegaard upright and on time through both crash-ridden stages. Vingegaard lies 19th overall at 10 seconds, with his GC challenge fully intact.
Ben Turner and Magnus Sheffield can be very satisfied with their support roles for INEOS Grenadiers’ co-leaders. Egan Bernal sits third overall at four seconds, and Thymen Arensman fourth at six seconds — a strong early position for the British team. Jack Haig continues his quiet, professional Giro in service of that challenge.

Italy next – another chance for sprints, and more chaos?

Bulgaria is already in the rearview mirrors of the Giro caravan. The peloton transfers to Italy for Tuesday’s stage 4, where crosswinds are forecast to cause chaos even before the mountains arrive. For those who came through clean, the real race is about to begin. For Gee-West, Groves and the other survivors who took damage in the Balkans, Italy cannot come soon enough.