Jai Hindley, Australia’s only active cycling Grand Tour winner, has been forced to abandon the Giro d’Italia, injured and dazed after a mass crash on a wet road during the sixth stage to Naples.
The Perth rider, who won the race in 2022, came off one of the worst in a mass pile-up in the peloton with 72km left of the 227km trek from Potenza.
The race had to be neutralised after the crash which left Hindley sitting in pain at the side of the road for several minutes before he was eventually taken off in an ambulance, his race over.
The 29-year-old Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider Hindley, who was set to be a key lieutenant in the mountains for race favourite and 2023 champion Primoz Roglic, was one of about 20 riders to go down on a road that had become slippery after moderate rain.
Hindley is one of only two Australian men, after Cadel Evans at the 2011 Tour de France, to win a Grand Tour and had been looking to recover some of his best form in the 2025 edition.
Race leader Mads Pedersen, fresh from three wins in five stages, was also involved in the crash, but was able to continue.
The race neutralisation lasted around 25 minutes as Roglic was among those riders in talks with organisers about riders’ safety before it was decided to resume the stage from the 60km to go mark.
