🎥 'We feared this scenario' — UAE lose key riders as stage 2 crash wrecks their Giro d'Italia

UAE Team Emirates-XRG are without doubt the biggest casualties of the mass crash in the finale of stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia. On a slippery bend, almost the entire team went down, with many hitting the barriers hard and colliding with other riders. The result was two abandonments, and a string of disappointed and bloodied faces.

UAE were positioned near the front of the peloton, as they almost always are, when things suddenly went horribly wrong. Marc Soler slid out at the head of the train and crashed violently off the road. Jay Vine fell over the Spaniard and, like Soler, had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.

Along with Soler and Vine, almost the entire UAE squad went down. Mikkel Bjerg was the one who escaped. The Dane looked back and his expression said everything — angry, devastated and shaken, all at once. "Mikkel was the only rider who didn't crash," team boss Mauro Gianetti told IDL Pro Cycling after the finish. It later emerged that Jan Christen and Igor Arrieta had also come through unscathed.

"I think everyone could see that someone was going to fall on these roads, and we were the unlucky ones," António Morgado said critically to Eurosport. "Everyone knew the roads would be very slippery, and that's exactly why everyone wanted to be at the front. Let's see how we go from here. I'm in some pain myself, but we're not giving up."

Gianetti had also feared crashes on the Bulgarian roads, which have proven to be particularly unforgiving. The rain only made things more dangerous. "We were scared because we knew that the weather and the rain would make the roads very dangerous," the Swiss team boss confirmed to TNT Sports. "And this happened." "We have two riders, Jay Vine and Marc Soler, on the way to hospital. We just hope it's nothing too bad. Nothing is clear about their conditions for the moment. We're just waiting for information from the doctors."

Adam Yates emerged from the crash with his face covered in blood, but after medical treatment the Briton was able to finish the stage. He lost almost 14 minutes, and Gianetti was in no doubt: "His GC is over too. The start of this Giro is very sad for us. But the most important thing now is that nobody is seriously injured — and that applies to all the other teams too."

Arrieta also reflected in Spanish on the terrible day for his UAE team: "I'm not exactly sure what happened. I was just about to hand back some jackets and other kit, so I wouldn't have to carry it through the final section. And then suddenly I saw the crash. I could only see Jan and Mikkel still upright, and I didn't really know what to do."