Blow for Giro d’Italia as Adam Yates Forced to Withdraw

The toll of Saturday’s Giro d’Italia fall claimed another name on Sunday when one of the big pre-race favorites, Adam Yates, was a non-starter.

Yates came down in a mass pileup with 23km to go, the crash starting when UAE Emirates-XRG teammate Marc Soler slid out on a high speed bend. That started a domino effect with Yates and a third UAE rider Jay Vine falling, and about 20 others also hitting the deck.

Vine and Soler withdrew from the race, as did Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious). Corbin Strong (NSN Cycling Team) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) also fell but were able to continue.

Yates limped in almost 14 minutes back, his GC dreams over, and while it was hoped he would be able to continue his team issued an update on Sunday morning confirming he was out.

“Adam Yates suffered a heavy abrasions and a laceration to his left ear. He was initially assessed on site for concussion, and cleared to continue, but subsequently he has shown delayed concussive symptoms,” stated team medical director Dr. Adrian Rotunno. “He will not take the start of stage 3 today.”

He also gave clarification of the other two riders who withdrew.

“Jay Vine suffered a concussion and an elbow fracture. Marc Soler has a pelvic fracture. At this stage, neither should require surgery.

“All three are under observation of our medical staff and will travel home in the coming days to continue their recovery and rehab.”

Effect on race hard to predict

The news of Yates’ withdrawal is a blow to his team, but also to the race itself. Jonas Vingegaard started as the big favorite but the inclusion of Yates in the start list was important as he too is a big GC contender.

He finished third behind Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar in the 2023 Tour de France and with a strong UAE Emirates-XRG team backing him, there was a chance he could do something big and succeed his brother Simon as Giro champion.

With Yates, Vine, Soler and Buitrago out the race has lost four big names. While Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA GCM), Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Jan Christen (UAE Emirates-XRG), Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco-AlUla) and others will complicate things for Vingegaard, it is clear that Saturday’s crash has removed some key obstacles to his Maglia Rosa ambitions.

However race organisers and fans of aggressive racing may take encouragement from one thing: the loss of Yates, Vine and Soler may unlock a much more unpredictable approach from the UAE squad, and also make the Giro more difficult to control.