Juri Hollmann set to race again 16 months after life-threatening Giro d’Italia crash

Juri Hollmann is preparing to return to racing 16 months after his life-threatening crash at the Giro d’Italia. The German, who was riding for Alpecin at the time, will make his comeback in a gravel race in Finland. Canyon, the bike manufacturer used by Alpecin-Premier Tech, has continued to support the 27-year-old German throughout his recovery.

Hollmann crashed heavily during the 2025 Giro d’Italia on the slippery roads heading towards Naples. “I hit a traffic sign at 70 kilometres per hour. The doctors suspect my femur struck the sign, forcing it into my pelvis and causing a complicated fracture,” he said this year. The German was among the worst affected by the crash and faced a lengthy and difficult rehabilitation process.

Hollmann was flown by private jet to the specialist hospital in Herentals, where he underwent surgery the following day on his badly deformed and shattered arm. He then suffered a pulmonary embolism and had to be transferred urgently to Antwerp. “Blood clots completely blocked my lungs. It was very close. Honestly: it’s a miracle I survived,” the German cyclist later recalled.

After 16 months of rehabilitation — including five months in which he was unable to walk — the day has finally arrived this weekend. Hollmann will return to competition in Lahti, Finland, in a gravel race. “I’m happy to say that tomorrow I’ll be standing on a race start line again,” he wrote on social media.

“It has been 16 months since my crash at the 2025 Giro d’Italia, and there has been a lot of hard work and rehabilitation involved. I didn’t expect it to take this long, but I kept going and didn’t give up. That makes me even prouder to be here now. We’ll see what is possible, but the most important thing is that tomorrow I enjoy myself and get to race my bike again.”