Primoz Roglic has withdrawn from the Giro d’Italia. The top favorite for the overall victory also crashed in a soaking wet mountain stage on Tuesday, making it the fourth time he has crashed in two weeks.
After a crash on Sunday, it was already questionable whether Roglic would even start in the Giro d’Italia. The Slovenian could not cycle on the rest day on Monday due to the pain and had already lost his chance for the overall victory. But the 35-year-old leader of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe refused to wave the white flag.
Roglic started ‘normally’ in the tough mountain stage to San Valentino on Tuesday, but he crashed again on the soaking wet roads. The crash was not shown on television. After 100 kilometers of racing, he got into the team car.
For Roglic, giving up is a major blow. The general classification rider had set his sights on the overall victory in the Giro, the grand tour he already won in 2023. After the first week, he even wore the pink leader’s jersey.
Then the misery began for Roglic. He crashed last week on Sunday in the gravel stage to Siena won by Wout van Aert, also crashed two days later in the reconnaissance of the individual time trial and also ended up on the asphalt on Sunday. He will now focus on the Tour de France, which starts on July 5.
Italian falls 10 meters down
Roglic is not the only rider who crashed on Tuesday in the soaking wet mountain stage. The Italian frontrunner Alessio Martinelli made a nasty slip in a descent. He lost control of his bike, missed the guardrail and then dived 10 meters down into the berm.
His team VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè reported shortly afterwards that Martinelli had been taken to hospital in a stable condition and conscious. Nothing has been announced about his injuries so far. His Giro d’Italia is over.
Joshua Tarling is also out of the race after a crash. The British time trialist, who won the individual time trial through the Albanian capital Tirana in the first week, crashed at an unknown location and could not continue. The severity of his injuries has not been announced.
The 203-kilometer mountain stage on Tuesday is the start of the decisive final week in the Giro d’Italia. Isaac del Toro is still the leader in the general classification. The Mexican of UAE Team Emirates has a lead of one minute and twenty seconds over number two Simon Yates.