Giro d’Italia abandons – Seven riders out in first three days as crashes take their toll before race reaches Italy

As the 2026 Giro d’Italia returns to Italy for stage 4, it will do so without seven of its original 184 starters, after a series of crashes in Bulgaria have already wiped several riders out of the field, including one GC contender.

Matteo Moschetti became the first rider to abandon this year’s race . The sprinter was caught up in a crash on the opening stage and couldn’t continue on Saturday’s stage 2.

Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility) followed the Italian in leaving the race on stage 2; the pair caught up in a nasty mass crash 22km from the end of the stage.

Latest Videos From

You may like

Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) were also confirmed as having left the race in the same crash. Andrea Vendrame (Jayco AlUla) and another UAE rider, Adam Yates, were DNS on stage 3 for the same reason.

“Unfortunately, we were badly affected by the crash on stage 2 yesterday. Jay Vine suffered a concussion and an elbow fracture. Marc Soler has a pelvic fracture. At this stage, neither should require surgery,” UAE Team Emirates-XRG stated before stage 3, also confirming that Yates had suffered “delayed concussive symptoms”.

Most riders will start the race intending to get to Rome, but as the three-week race takes its toll, not everyone will get there, with tens of riders often dropping out over the 21 stages of a Grand Tour.

Riders may abandon for a variety of reasons, including crashes, illness, or just pure fatigue. Riders can quit mid-stage, climbing into a car or ambulance, or they may decide not to start the next stage.

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

If a rider stops mid-stage, they will be marked as ‘did not finish’ (DNF), whilst DNS stands for ‘did not start’.

Riders can also be obliged to leave the race by the commissaires, either with a disqualification (DSQ) for serious rule infringements, or for finishing outside the time limit on a given stage (OTL).

Here, we will track all the riders who drop out of the 2026 Giro on the roads between Bulgaria and Rome.

Giro d’Italia 2026 abandonsStage 2Stage 3

Who will challenge Jonas Vingegaard at this year’s Giro d’Italia? Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Corsa Rosa. Enjoy unrivalled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.