Mikel Landa crashes out of Giro d'Italia on opening stage

Mikel Landa saw his hopes at the Giro d'Italia 2025 disappear on the opening day, as the Basque rider crashed out on the descent from the final climb of the day.

With around 5km to go, the Soudal Quick-Step rider appeared to crash off the edge of the road, and was seen on television being attended to by medics, and later being put on a stretcher. Also involved in the crash were Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), but he was able to remount and continue the race. As Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was celebrating victory, Landa was on his way to hospital.

The official Giro X account posted that the 35-year-old had left the race, while his team posted: "We'll come back with an update about him as soon as we have one." They followed this up with "Forza Mikel. Our rider has been taken to the hospital for investigations after the crash that put an end to his dreams at the Giro d'Italia."

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's Geoffrey Bouchard also crashed on the same corner, with his team later stating that the Frenchman had been forced to abandon.

Landa had come into the Giro aiming for a solid tilt at general classification, having finished in the top 10 of 10 other Grand Tours; he has finished on the podium at the Italian Grand Tour twice before as well.

His season so far had been solid, with a seventh place finish at Tirreno-Adriatico being followed by fourth at the Volta a Catalunya in March. The Tour de France is understood to be on his schedule, riding in support of Remco Evenepoel so there could now be a race against time to be fit for the French Grand Tour in July.

Landa was the only notable GC rider to abandon the race on stage one, but he was not alone in having a difficult day. Both Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) lost time after they slipped out of the back of the lead group on the final ascent of Surrel.

This article will be updated when more is known on the riders' conditions.