Stray dog causes Remco Evenepoel to crash at the Giro d’Italia

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was involved in a crash at the Giro d’Italia after a stray dog ran into the road in the middle of the peloton during stage five.

The Belgian was sent crashing to the floor with 152 kilometres to go on the rain soaked stage five between Atripalda and Salerno, when the dog ran into the main field before doubling back and returning to the pavement.

Several of his teammates including Louis Vervaeke were immediately on the scene to help their leader, helping to collect his bike from the road before gathering around him to check on his health.

Evenepoel initially appeared to be in some discomfort, sitting on the roadside for a few minutes as he was checked over by staff from his Soudal Quick-Step team. He was then helped to his feet before getting back onto his bike and pushing off once more.

The crash came after the Belgian's teammate Davide Ballerini was the first to be brought down by the dog, before other riders were then brought down. Evenepoel fell on the right hand side of the road, before moving himself onto the gravel pavement to be assessed by his team.

After winning the stage one individual time trial, Evenepoel was leading the race until yesterday when Andreas Leknessund (DSM) took over wearing the pink jersey. However, the Belgian is back in his usual rainbow bands of the world champion today.

Once he’d remounted his bike, Evenepoel was quickly paced back into the main field by a string of Soudal Quick-Step riders including Vervaeke and was quick to give a thumbs up sign to the television cameras to suggest he had avoided injury in the incident.

Evenepoel rejoined the peloton with 148 kilometres left to race in the torrential rain in the Campania region of southern Italy.

Stage five is expected to conclude with a bunch sprint in Salerno, with Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and stage two winner Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) amongst the favourites for the win.

If things go to plan for Astana Qazaqstan’s Mark Cavendish, then he may also be in contention for a 17th Giro stage win this afternoon.

You can follow all of the action on stage five of the Corsa Rosa on our live blog.