The 2026 Giro d’Italia peloton faced a second day with rain, which made the stage 6 finale on cobblestones into the centre of Naples an ice-like surface. While there was a massive pile-up of riders on a corner in the uphill to Piazza del Plebiscito, all riders who made the start were able to remount and complete the 142km route.
Only one rider was missing on Thursday, Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) who did not start, leaving 170 riders to take on the 142km northly route from Paestum to Naples.
Four riders departed on Wednesday, Milan Menten (Lotto Intermarché) not taking the start and three more riders not finishing stage 5.
Lotto-Intermarché lost star sprinter Arnaud De Lie on stage 4 as an illness forced him out of the race, with Joshua Giddings and Milan Menten joined him on the sidelines. Both Lotto riders were suffering from a freak illness picked up in the days before the Giro, a stomach bug blamed on cow manure on the roads at a race in Belgium the previous week.
“It’s a real shame to lose Timo from the race,” coach Matt Winston said. “He was an important member of our sprint train and someone that can be strong on a variety of terrain. We’ll not only miss his horsepower in the bunch, but he is someone that is motivated and brings a lot of energy to the group too; and it was great to see him experiencing his first Grand Tour. We hope that he recovers well and we’ll see him back racing when ready. The rest of the squad here will continue to chase stage results for the remainder of the race.”
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.
Giro d’Italia 2026 abandons
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
- Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) – DNS, injuries from stage 2 crash
- Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Intermarché) – DNF, illness
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – DNF, injuries from stage 1 crash
Stage 5
- Milan Menten (Lotto Intermarché) – DNS, illness
- Timo de Jong (Pincic-PostNL) – DNF, injuries
- Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarché) – DNF
- Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost) – DNF, injuries
Stage 6
- Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) – DNS
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.