It was a woeful weekend for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who have already faced well-documented injury problems this season, and had at least four more riders forced out of racing on Saturday and Sunday.
The Emirati squad was the worst affected by the mass crash at the Giro d'Italia on Saturday, with Jay Vine and Marc Soler not finishing, and Adam Yates pulling out on Sunday morning.
Then, to add insult to injury (or just more injury to injury), Filippo Baroncini crashed hard in Tro-Bro Léon and suffered a suspected broken collarbone.
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"Unfortunately Filippo Baroncini was involved in a crash at Tro Bro Leon and suffered a suspected left clavicle/acromio-clavicular injury," UAE medical director Dr. Adrian Rotunno said on Sunday evening.
"He will undergo surgical assessment in Brussels tomorrow before travelling home for rehab and recovery under the supervision of team medical staff."
Baroncini already spent several months out of racing in the second half of last year, spending some time in an induced coma after a crash at the Tour of Poland
With Baroncini joining the three riders forced out of the Giro – with Yates suffering concussion and cuts, a broken elbow for Jay Vine, and Soler a fractured pelvis – plus Isaac del Toro's ongoing injury, UAE have at least five riders currently unable to race.
This comes after the start of the season saw various injuries and long periods away from racing for Vine, Jhonatan Narváez, Mikkel Bjerg and Tim Wellens, and forced them to promote a rider from their development team to attempt to plug some gaps.
Of course, Tadej Pogačar's multitude of victories for the team have buoyed results, but the injury problems are likely to get in the way of their mission to beat their win tally for 2025 and try to reach a milestone of 100 wins in a season.
Whilst Baroncini's injuries are not yet confirmed, the toll of a hard weekend in Bulgaria at the Giro has been, with the team returning to Italy with only five riders and no real GC rider.
They will try to complete the remaining 18 stages of the race as well as possible, with Jan Christen a possible dark horse for some good results, whilst Bjerg and Narváez continue to return to their top level after injuries of their own.
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