Schultz fractures hand in Giro d'Italia crash

SEGA DI ALA ITALY MAY 26 Nicholas Schultz of Australia Simon Yates of United Kingdom and Team BikeExchange during the 104th Giro dItalia 2021 Stage 17 a 193km stage from Canazei to Sega di Ala 1246m UCIworldtour girodiitalia Giro on May 26 2021 in Sega di Ala Italy Photo by Tim de WaeleGetty Images
Nick Schultz (Team BikeExchange) with Simon Yates on his wheel before Schultz crashed on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Australian Nick Schultz (TeamBikeExchange) won’t be lining up at the start of stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday after fracturing the fifth metacarpal on his left hand, leaving Simon Yates without a key part of his climbing retinue as the race heads toward those final crucial climbing stages.

Schultz had been Yates' last man standing in the pivotal mountain stages so far but the 26-year-old wasn’t there when the Briton reignited his GC hopes on the Sega di Ala climb, shifting back up to third and taking time back on the maglia rosa clad Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and second-placed Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious). 

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