Tadej Poga\u010dar could be without a key Tour de France helper after a freak bus crash ended the Giro d\u2019Italia for Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez.<\/p>\n
Narv\u00e1ez had been one of the standout riders of this year\u2019s race before the Ecuadorian collided with a team bus while riding back to the paddock after stage 18, forcing him out of the Italian grand tour.<\/p>\n
The bizarre incident could cost the on-form Narv\u00e1ez a spot on Poga\u010dar\u2019s Tour squad as the defending champion prepares for a rematch with arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard.<\/p>\n
UAE Emirates-XRG sports director Manuele Mori revealed the accident occurred after stage 18, when Narv\u00e1ez lost his concentration while checking his stats.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Thursday after the stage in Pieve di Soligo, Jhonatan was a little distracted and was checking his power meter while returning to the team buses,\u201d Mori told BiciSport<\/em>. \u201cA bus in front of him braked. He didn\u2019t notice and there was an impact. At first it didn\u2019t seem serious, just the kind of neck and back spasms that can happen after a crash.\u201d<\/p>\n Narv\u00e1ez, 29, enjoyed a strong Giro after stepping into the void following the stage 1 crash that took out several UAE Team Emirates-XRG leaders.<\/p>\n He won three stages and entered the battle for the cyclamino<\/em> jersey before abandoning in stage 19.<\/p>\n The impacts proved worse than initially thought. Narv\u00e1ez started stage 19 but abandoned shortly afterward.<\/p>\n \u201cHe suffered from the start,\u201d Mori said. \u201cI think partly because of the heat and the effort, and he started bleeding from the nose. He felt dizzy and was probably also a bit frightened, so together with the race doctors we decided to stop him.\u201d<\/p>\n The crash was another setback in a difficult season for Narv\u00e1ez, who had already missed much of the spring after suffering multiple thoracic vertebra fractures at the Santos Tour Down Under in January.<\/p>\n The Giro marked his return after nearly four months away from racing.<\/p>\n His strong Giro ride immediately put him in the picture to fill what looks like the final spot on UAE\u2019s powerful Tour de France roster to support Poga\u010dar and his push for a record-tying fifth yellow jersey.<\/p>\n UAE\u2019s preliminary Tour squad already looks largely settled, with Poga\u010dar leading a team that includes Isaac del Toro, Tim Wellens, Marc Soler, Brandon McNulty, Adam Yates, and Florian Vermeersch \u2014 leaving one spot still up for grabs.<\/p>\n Narv\u00e1ez was a key rider on UAE\u2019s Tour-winning squad last year, but the early season crash saw him fall out of contention to make the competitive selection.<\/p>\n After his hot Giro, he was back on the list, but now the question is whether his injuries have torpedoed his chances at the worst possible moment.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know yet,\u201d Mori said when asked about Narv\u00e1ez\u2019s Tour prospects. \u201cMatxin [sporting director Joxean Fern\u00e1ndez] and the coaching staff will decide later. But after some rest, he will certainly be ready to get back in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Narv\u00e1ez\u2019s crash also comes as the momentum appears to be swinging back toward Visma-Lease a Bike.<\/p>\n Vingegaard capped a dominant Giro d\u2019Italia with four stage victories and the overall title, and Visma leaves Italy looking every bit as deep and dangerous as the team that twice beat Poga\u010dar at the Tour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tour-de-france\/narvaez-crash-tour-de-france-pogacar\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2223502454.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated May 31, 2026 09:39AM Tadej Poga\u010dar could be without a key Tour de France helper after a freak bus crash ended the Giro d\u2019Italia for Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez. Narv\u00e1ez had been one of the standout riders of this year\u2019s race before the Ecuadorian collided with a team bus while riding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1965279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1965279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1965279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1965279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1965279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Poga\u010dar\u2019s Tour de France roster with one spot still open<\/h2>\n