Mikel Landa crash brings end to his Giro d'Italia, Pavel Sivakov injured in Stage 5 'chaos'

ByBen Snowball

Updated 12/05/2021 at 20:18 GMT

An uneventful stage burst into life with two crashes marring the finale, with Landa and Sivakov among those to hit the deck. The pair were hoping to play leading roles for Bahrain Victorious and Ineos Grenadiers respectively, but both men have now abandoned to weaken the GC battle before the race had even hit the mountains.

Mikel Landa is out of the Giro d’Italia after a horrible crash on Stage 5 saw him taken to hospital with a broken collarbone.

Team Bahrain Victorious confirmed Landa also suffered multiple broken ribs on his left side after being sent to Riccione Hospital.

"Landa will spend the night in the hospital under observation and undergo further investigation," the team said. "Landa remained conscious throughout and is in good spirits to get back on the bike as soon as possible."

Itzulia Basque Country

Landa fractures collarbone after another crash at Itzulia Basque Country

05/04/2024 at 15:45

The Spaniard was hoping to build on an impressive showing in the hills on Tuesday, but was caught up in a three-man crash also involving Stage 4 winner Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates). Mountains classification leader Dombrowski was also taken to hospital on a stretcher.

"It doesn’t look good. Another one of the favourites down, it’s so disappointing to see this happen in the final 5 kilometres," said Sean Kelly on Eurosport commentary, before it became clear Landa could not finish the stage.

Highlights: Landa crashes out as Ewan wins Stage 5

The incident came just minutes after Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) had crashed into a tree with 16km remaining before gingerly returning to his bike. Ineos later confirmed that Sivakov had also abandoned the race.

Dombrowski caught a signaller stationed in front of some road furniture, causing Landa and Francois Bidard (AG2R Citroen) to also hit the tarmac. Dombrowski and Bidard eventually finished the stage, while the marshal was seen getting back to his feet.

"When you’re thrown in with these big guys, when you get into the final of a race, the fighting that goes on, the big guys take every inch, they don’t give you any space at all. It’s so difficult to stay up there," said Kelly.

“Your bike handling, if it’s a little bit off its best, well then you get caught out. This is a real disaster for him. The morale seems to be totally gone.”

GC leader Alessandro De Marchi branded the finale a "crazy circus".

"The road was really difficult and technical, maybe even too dangerous in my opinion. In the last 70km there was a lot of stress."

Caleb Ewan powered through plenty of traffic to take victory on Stage 5, but his triumph was overshadowed by Landa's crash.

Teammate: Landa’s crash ‘didn’t look good’

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