Adam Yates loses Giro hopes and UAE lose Vine and Soler in high-speed crash

The crash took place near the front of the peloton with 23km remaining, with Soler appearing to be the first rider to fall. A number of his UAE teammates came down with him, including Yates, Vine and Antonio Morgado.

The race was briefly neutralised as the ambulances behind the peloton were occupied tending to injured riders, with Vine and Soler among the worst affected. UAE directeur sportif Fabio Baldato confirmed to RAI television that they had abandoned the race and been taken to hospital.

Yates appeared to slide off the road, and he was visibly bloodied by the crash. Although he managed to remount and continue, he did not regain the peloton before the race started again with 18km to go.

The Briton would eventually come home 13:46 down on surprise stage winner and new maglia rosa Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana).

“Adam managed to start again, he had a lot of contusions,” Baldato told RAI’s Processo alla Tappa post-stage analysis show. “We’ve lost two riders. Marc Soler and Jay Vine were both on the ground and taken away by ambulance. 

“The others started again. I saw the replay and I think Soler was the first to fall behind [Mikkel] Bjerg. They were at the front of the race on the left, and it was basically a chain reaction. The road was wet and the speed was high.”

When the race resumed, favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) went on the attack, with UAE’s Jan Christen bridging up to the escapees in the final kilometre before they were swept up by a peloton of 30 or so riders.

Morgado, who was among the UAE fallers, managed to make it to the finish, and he explained that there had been rising tension in the bunch before the crash.

“I think everybody knows somebody is going to crash with this pavement,” Morgado told Eurosport. “The bad luck was to us. The road was completely slippery, and everybody knew they were going to be in a big fight to be in front.”