According to reports, the Giro d'Italia organisers have ejected the AG2R Citroën team car from the race after the team's sports director struck Carlos Verona (Movistar) and caused him to crash while driving behind the breakaway.
During stage 19 to Tre Cime Lavaredo, Verona could be seen with his shorts torn open on his right hip and a large patch of road rash from the incident.
Perhaps given an extra adrenaline boost, Verona attacked the breakaway and was joined by Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Michael Hepburn (Jayco-AlULa) and perpetual breakaway instigator Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), leaving behind the remains of the 15-man escape group that included AG2R's Larry Warbasse and Nicolas Prodhomme.
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The crash highlights the level of danger when riding in the race convoy, along with other recent incidents.
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) had a near-miss while riding alongside his own team car when the driver had to swerve to avoid another team car.
In Tro-Bro Léon, AG2R's Lawrence Naesen was struck by the Groupama-FDJ team car. In 2021, BikeExchange's directors were ejected from the Giro d'Italia after running their team car into Pieter Serry.
