A total of 120 riders lined up in Saluzzo for the ninth and final day of racing at the Giro d'Italia women on Sunday, which was minus one rider, Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech). Five more riders abandoned stage 9, leaving 115 of the original 147-rider peloton to complete the Grand Tour.
While Kool finished the queen stage on Saturday, the team said "her recovery was not optimal enough to take on another demanding day in the mountains".
USPro road champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) pulled out of stage 9 before the first climb of the day at Montoso. Later Italian Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime), who finished fifth on stage 2, and Dutch rider Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) also withdrew. Irene Affolati (Aromitalia Vaiano) and Chantal Pegolo (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) were DNFs, leaving their teams with just two riders each at the finish.
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135 riders took the start of Saturday's queen stage, with 14 not completing the climb to the revised finish line at Colle delle Finestre on stage 8.
After coming through stage 6 intact, the peloton of the Giro d'Italia Women lost one rider before stage 7, Margaux Vigié (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The group was down to 135 riders following the French rider's departure. It was the first abandon since Canadian Clara Emond (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), who won a stage in Italy two years ago, dropped out during stage 5 along with Valentina Zanzi (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria and two riders that were disqualified, Argiro Milaki (Aromitalia Vaiano) and Anita Baima (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria), for holding onto a team vehicle.
Those departures came after another heavy day of attrition on Tuesday, which included the departure of 18-year-old Sara Gegala (Mendelspeck E-Work) who finished outside the time limit of the mountain time trial while team SD Worx-Protime lost a second rider when Mikayla Harvey withdrew before stage 4 due to injuries sustained from a crash with 20km to ride the day before.
The latest departure comes in a Corsa Rosa where the big name losses started early, with Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) disqualified on stage 1 when her bike came in just 20 grams under the UCI's limit and Cat Ferguson (Movistar) our after a crash.
It was a tough way to start as every rider who started the Giro d'Italia in Cesenatico would have been hoping to make it all the way to Saluzzo, but with many tough stages along the way, a lot can go wrong and force riders to leave the race early.
Abandons might come mid-stage after a crash or illness, with riders climbing into a team car or being taken away by ambulance instead of finishing the stage, whilst others may decide to pull out overnight and not start the next day. 'DNF' means 'did not finish', 'DNS' means 'did not start'.
Riders can also be removed from the race by the organisation, either by finishing outside of the time limit or even being disqualified – as has happened a number of times in this edition – due to rule infringements. 'OTL' means 'outside time limit' and 'DSQ' means 'disqualified'.
Here is the list of all the riders who have pulled out of Giro d'Italia Women, which we will keep updated through the week.
Giro d'Italia Women 2026 abandons
Stage 1
- Cat Ferguson (Movistar) - DNF, crash
- Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) - DSQ, bike weight
Stage 2
- Karolina Kumięga (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93)
Stage 4
- Mikayla Harvey (SD Worx-Protime) - DNS, injuries from stage 3 crash
- Mara Roldan (Picnic PostNL) - DNS, injuries from stage 3 crash
- Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) - DNS, illness
- Sara Gegala (Mendelspeck E-Work) - OTL
Stage 5
- Clara Emond (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93) - DNF
- Argyro Milaki (Aromitalia Vaiano) - DSQ, holding onto a team vehicle
- Anita Baima (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) - DSQ, holding onto a team vehicle
- Valentina Zanzi (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) - DNF
Stage 6
Stage 7
- Margaux Vigié (Visma-Lease a Bike) - DNS
Stage 8
- Fanny Bonini (Aromitalia Vaiano) - DNF
- Eleonora La Bella (Aromitalia Vaiano) - DNF
- Valentina Venerucci (Aromitalia Vaiano) - DNF
- Valeria Curnis (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) - DNF
- Martina Silvestri (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) - DNF
- Sara Fiorin (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) - DNF
- Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) - DNF
- Katelyn Nicholson (Team Mendelspeck E-Work) - DNF
- Ilaria Marinetto (Team Mendelspeck E-Work) - DNF
- Giorgia Serena (Team Mendelspeck E-Work) - DNF
- Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) - DNF
- Irma Siri (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) - DNF
- Linda Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility) - DNF
- Nora Jenčušová (Vini Fantini-BePink) - DNF
Stage 9
- Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) - DNS
- Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) - DNF
- Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) - DNF
- Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) - DNF
- Irene Affolati (Aromitalia Vaiano) - DNF
- Chantal Pegolo (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) - DNF
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