General classification hopeful Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) became the first rider to abandon the 2025 Giro d'Italia after crashing heavily in the final 6km of the opening stage in Albania.
Soudal-QuickStep later released a medical update that confirmed Landa had suffered a stable fracture of the Thoracic 11 vertebra and that he will need to remain in a stable lying position for an extended period of time. "He will remain at the hospital overnight, before further assessment and a plan for his return home will be made," the team wrote.
The Spanish rider crashed at high speed on the descent of the Surrel climb with 5.3km remaining in the 160-kilometre stage, coming off the road with Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and others. Landa fell heavily over a metre-high ledge onto the sidewalk in a bend.
Though Vine and the other riders involved got up fairly quickly, Landa remained on the ground and clearly in pain.
It soon became clear that Landa was not going to remount his bike, and after the stage finished, the television coverage showed him being carried off the road on a stretcher and into an ambulance.
Geoffrey Bouchard (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) also stayed down for some time and did not finish the stage.
Landa came to the Giro as Soudal-QuickStep's overall leader, hoping to add an eleventh top-10 finish in a Grand Tour and aim towards a repeat of his two podium finishes in 2015 and 2022.
However, he will not get a chance to test his legs in the mountains with his race already over on day 1.
Though Landa is the only GC rider who is fully out of the race after stage 1, several overall contenders also lost time, including Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers).
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Stage 1
- Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) – crash on fast descent
- Geoffrey Boucard (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) – crash on fast descent
