GC contenders hit the deck at Giro d'Italia after Fernando Gaviria misjudges corner

Steven Kruijswijk and Ilnur Zakarin among a number of riders to crash

General classification contenders Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) were among a number of riders to crash with 18km remaining on stage four of the Giro d'Italia after race leader Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) misjudged a corner at the front of the peloton.

Approaching a right-hand bend at high-speed before the final climb to Mount Etna, Gaviria, at the front of the bunch, appeared to misjudge the tightness of the corner, carrying too much speed into the turn before being forced to go straight on.

That caused a number of riders behind to crash as riders either swerved left or hit the brakes as they realised they were going into the corner too fast.

There were also a few fisty cuffs a few kilometres earlier when Javier Moreno (Bahrain-Merida) and Diego Rosa (Team Sky) appeared to have a disagreement over something or other.

Moreno rode up behind the Italian Sky rider and appeared to pull him backwards, before exchanging angry words and pushing him towards the crowd.

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