The Giro d'Italia 2021 is now into its pivotal final stages and the attritional race has taken it's toll on the peloton - here's all the riders who have abandoned this year's race.
As the opening time trial stage came to a close, there were no crashes or incidents resulting in a DNF, with all riders finishing the course and being scheduled to start the following day.
However, after the day’s racing was done one rider was involved in an incident that has taken him out of the race.
Israel Start-Up Nation rider Krists Neilands, who had finished 105th on the stage, 55 seconds down on the winner, crashed while he was riding from the stage finish in Turin back to his team hotel.
The Latvian was then taken to hospital and X-rays revealed he had suffered a broken right collarbone in the fall, which resulted in him missing the start of stage two and retiring from the race.
>>> Giro d’Italia 2021 route: Tough gravel stage, Monte Zoncolan summit finish and final time trial in Milan for 104th edition
Neilands was the first rider to retire from the race - a blow to ISN leader Dan Martin who is looking at the general classification and is filled with confidence.
Since that first abandonment, we've seen a massive number of riders withdraw from the race, after the 184-rider peloton departed from Turin three weeks ago.
By stage 20, a total of 35 riders had gone home.
Initially we saw a large number of sprinters abandoning the race, as the tough climbs and few sprint opportunities sapped the energy and the motivation, with Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) among the fast men to leave.
Stage 15 saw a large number of riders abandon after a mass pile-up just 3km into the stage.
In the final week, we also some some serious GC contenders drop out of the race, including Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) who was caught in a crash on stage 17 and was forced to abandon his sixth place overall.
Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) had been one of the pre-race favourites but lost a lot of time by the final week, and was finally forced to quit the race after he was involved in the same crash as Ciccone on day 17.
Who’s out of the Giro d’Italia 2021?
Stage one - none
Stage two - Krists Neilands (Israel Start-Up Nation) DNS, broken collarbone
Stage three - none
Stage four - none
Stage five - Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) DNF after a crash
Stage six - Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), DNS due to shoulder injury after a crash.
Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates) DNS due to concussion protocol after a crash.
François Bidard (Ag2r-Citroën) DNF due to broken collarbone after a crash.
Manuel Belletti (EOLO-Kometa) DNF after a crash.
Stage seven - Domenico Pozzovivo (Qhubeka-Assos) DNS after a crash .
Stage eight - Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) DNF (knee pain)
Stage nine - Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) DNF after a crash.
Stage 10 - none.
Stage 11 - Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) DNS (stomach problems).
Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-Nippo) DNF due after a crash.
Stage 12 - Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) DNF after a crash.
Marc Soler (Movistar) DNF after a crash.
Alex Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) DNF due to a stomach issue.
Kobe Goossens (Lotto-Soudal) DNF due to crash.
Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) due to a knee problem.
Stage 14 - Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) DNS
Jai Hindley (DSM) DNS due to saddle sores
David Dekker (Jumbo-Visma) DNS
Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) DNF due to crash
Roger Kluge (Lotto-Soudal) DNF
Stage 15 - Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) DNS
Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) DNF after crash
Jos Van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) DNF after a crash
Natnael Berhane (Cofidis) DNF after a crash
Stage 16 - Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) DNS due to knee pain
Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) DNF after a crash.
Stage 17 - Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka-Assos) DNS due to knee pain
Rémy Rochas (Cofidis) DNF due to injuries from earlier crash
Stage 18 - Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) DNS due to illness
Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) DNS after crash
Nick Schultz (Team BikeExchange) DNS after to crash
Stage 19 - Victor Lafay (Cofidis) DNS
Jefferson Cepeda (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), DNS
Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) DNF after crash
