Organisers of the Giro d'Italia have opted to neutralize the lap stage 15 for GC purposes after riders including Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) protested in-race over dangerous conditions in the centre of Milan.
With around 40 kilometres to go, the decision was made public on television that the last five kilometres of the course would not count for GC purposes and everybody's overall would be taken at that point. The sprint battle, the second last of the 2026 Giro would go ahead.
Stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia took the race deep into the centre of Milan, ending with four final 16.3 kilometre laps of the city. At the time the decision the race was made, a four rider break of non-GC threats was around 2 minutes, with interest in chasing them down varying wildly.
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The neutralisation would be increased to the whole of the final lap, thus allowing those who did not want to participate in the stage win battle.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Italian Giulio Ciccone, a former leader of the race, were amongst those dropping back to the commissaires and saying the mixture of road furniture was too risky. Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) was another reportedly involved in the in-race protest.
The Giro d'Italia was hit by a massive crash on stage 1 of the race in Burgas, but at least up to 30 kilometres to go, there had been no major fallers on stage 15.
More later...
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