A small protest in the closing kilometres of stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday affected the race, forcing the breakaway to slow.
Two protestors, whose motives are unknown, held up tape in front of Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) and Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) inside 4km to go of stage 6 in Naples, with the former forced to break, and the latter swerving. Shortly after, the cycling duo were caught by the peloton.
The protestors then attempted to show a banner, running into the middle of the road and endangering the riders that were left in the bunch, and themselves, before they appeared to be tackled by other fans. While it wasn't shown on television, it could be seen on the Giro's new multi-camera feature.
While the break was unlikely to make it to the finish without being caught, the protest did slow them and mean the peloton swallowed them up within metres. Local news site NapoliToday later reported that a 67-year-old was arrested for assault and resisting a public official.
It was not the only chaotic event on Thursday, with the stage neutralised earlier in the day after a huge crash with 72km to go brought down multiple riders, with some abandoning.
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) ended up winning after a messy bunch sprint.
"With three kilometers to go, those protesters came onto the road," Taco van der Hoorn told Eurosport. "Suddenly, there was someone in front of me. With a ribbon and who knows what else he had. I came to a complete standstill. I drove straight through them, but I came to a complete standstill, because they completely blocked the road. Then you have to get going again, while you are completely wasted, so to speak. That is difficult.
"It did have an impact. I don't know if we would have made it otherwise, I don't think so. But it is a shame that it has to end like this."
"He [Paleni] cycled around them, while I was completely stationary," Van der Hoorn said. "That's why it happened, but apparently it wasn't on TV. He didn't drive away from me. I was just completely blocked, which meant I had to brake hard. That made a difference of about ten seconds."
"It's a shame people went into the road in the final," Picnic PostNL's Casper van Uden told TNT Sports post-stage. "I reckon if you like sport and you want to watch, you should watch, but running in front of a peloton that goes 60 kilometres an hour is maybe not the best idea.
Asked if it affected his chances of winning, the Dutchman said: "I'm not sure that was it today for me, but it's not a good idea."
It is far from the first time that a bike race, or even a Grand Tour, has been affected by protest. In 2022, the Tour de France was halted on stage 10 after climate protestors blocked the road, which forced the entire race to be neutralised. In 2023, at the Glasgow World Championships, the elite men's road race was paused in similar circumstances after environmental activists glued themselves to the road surface.
