Two Days on Broken Collarbone, Now Vingegaard Is Shorthanded

Just four stages into the 2026 Giro d’Italia, and Jonas Vingegaard is already feeling the impact of crashes in the battle for the pink jersey.

The Dane is fine, but three more riders abandoned Tuesday on the first stage on Italian roads, including Visma-Lease a Bike’s Wilco Kelderman, as well as sprinter Kaden Groves and all-rounder Arnaud De Lie.

Kelderman’s exit is a significant blow to pink jersey favorite Vingegaard, who now loses one of his most reliable and experienced mountain helpers.

“Yes, it’s a pity,” Kelderman said in a team video. “If you have a big preparation, and then you have to leave you guys with a big goal. When you’re a cyclist, you feel it.”

The 35-year-old Dutchman was caught up in Saturday’s stage 2 crash carnage in Bulgaria — the same horrific pileup that eliminated GC contenders Adam Yates and Jay Vine and left Derek Gee-West bruised and banged up.

Despite nasty cuts and scrapes, Kelderman finished both stage 2 and stage 3 before teammate Victor Campenaerts revealed late Tuesday that he had been racing on a fractured collarbone.

Details on the severity of the injury were not immediately available, but it was enough to end his Giro.

Kelderman spent time at altitude to prepare specifically for this race and was central to Visma’s strategy to support Vingegaard in the brutal mountains of the closing week of this Giro.

“It’s really shit. We’re going to miss Wilco the next coming days and weeks,” Vingegaard said. “But it’s the best thing to do. Health is the most important thing and we support that.”

Teammate Tim Rex also crashed Saturday but remains in the race. Visma is now down to seven riders.

Cow manure sends De Lie packing

Things were already grim for other riders nursing wounds and illness, and Monday’s rest day brought no relief.

Arnaud De Lie — who arrived to the Giro already sick from a bacterial infection — abandoned Tuesday.

The 24-year-old Belgian reportedly ingested cow manure from road spray kicked up off wet roads during the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic two weekends ago.

In fact, De Lie’s only win of 2026 came at the very race that made him sick.

“Following the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic, he — like several other riders in the peloton — fell ill after ingesting bacteria from the road surface,” the team confirmed. “Yesterday’s rest day brought no improvement: De Lie did not recover sufficiently and is forced to leave this Giro d’Italia due to illness.”

De Lie was even spotted getting help from rival Visma compatriot Campenaerts during the stage before pulling out.

In what was his Giro debut, he never got the chance to race for what would be his first grand tour win.

Lotto Intermarché teammate Milan Menten, who arrived at the race a day late also due to stomach problems, vomited twice during Tuesday’s stage and his participation in the Giro is in doubt, officials said.

“We had hoped that Arnaud would get better after the rest day, but today he had a stomach problem again,” said team director Pieter Vanspeybrouck told Sporza. “The most important thing now is that he gets well again. We are not yet panicking for his upcoming goals at the Tour of Wallonia and the Tour. Today it also hung by a thread for Milan Menten. We will have to see tonight if it is wise to keep him in the Giro.”

No chance for Groves

Another rider out is sprinter ace Kaden Groves, who crashed on the opening stage in Bulgaria and never recovered.

“Our Australian rider is still suffering from the aftermath of his crash during the opening stage of the race and was unable to recover sufficiently to continue the Giro,” Alpecin-Premier Tech confirmed.

Groves, in the final year of his contract with Alpecin-Premier Tech, had been expected to be a stage threat and is still slated to race the Tour de France.

Riders who’ve abandoned so far include Yates, Vine, and Marc Soler (UAE Emirates-XRG) Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech), De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5), Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), and Andrea Vendrame (Jayco-AlUla).

All six North American starters, including a banged up Gee-West, remain in the race.

The 109th Giro continues Wednesday with the 203km stage 5 from Praia a Mare to Potenza.

A nasty Cat. 2 climb with about 50km to go could make it tough going for any stragglers.