Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia descended into chaos on Sunday after a major crash left more than 20 riders on the ground and sparked anger inside the peloton over how the race was handled afterwards.
Osgoode, Ont.’s Derek Gee-West was among the riders caught out with 23 km remaining, alongside a slew of UAE riders including Adam Yates, Marc Soler and Jay Vine.
Soler and Vine went to the hospital and didn’t finish. Yates made it to the line, 15 minutes behind, but would not start Stage 3.
Gee-West relatively unscathed
Gee-West managed to remount and chase back onto the front group, though the effort eventually caught up with him on the final climb. He crossed the line 1:11 down with the chase group, but appeared to escape serious injury.
“Fuck, I flew up that climb,” Gee-West joked to his soigneur after the finish while grabbing food and drink. Thankfully, apart from losing time–not optimal for a guy chasing a good GC, he doesn’t seem to be hurt too bad.
Calls to neutralize race
The aftermath of the crash quickly became a bigger talking point than the stage itself, with Jasper Stuyven openly criticizing race organizers over safety concerns on the remaining descent.
“There were no more ambulances. But there was still a descent that could be dangerous,” Stuyven said afterwards to Het Laatste Nieuws.
According to the Belgian, several riders spoke with race officials during a temporary neutralization and pushed for general classification times to be frozen after the incident.
“We wanted to neutralize the times for the GC after that crash. So that those who wanted to could still fight for the stage win. But with no unnecessary risks had to be taken in that next descent,” Stuyven explained. “The race director said they were looking into it.”
Race continued anyway, despite chaos
Instead, organizers restarted the race shortly afterwards, a decision that clearly did not sit well with the experienced rider.
“After which he stuck his head out of the car like a frightened dog, started waving his flag and shouted ‘race’,” Stuyven said. “Then quickly put his head back in the car.”
And so the race went on. National champ Gee-West did catch back on–briefly. However, the effort and the crash must have been too much as he would ultimately fall off the pace.
A reduced bunch sprint saw Guillermo Silva become the first Uruguayan to win a Grand Tour stage. Silva also wears pink, four seconds ahead of Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS). Bernal seems to be in fine form, taking the Red Bull Kilometre KOM, snagging six bonus seconds. Might the Colombian be the best bet to challenge race favourite Jonas Vingegaard?