Rockets had a very bad day in Naples, on and off the bike 🚌

Things just haven't been going Unibet Rose Rockets' way at this Giro so far. Sprinter Dylan Groenewegen crashed in stage one, and in Thursday's stage six he went down again in an almost identical spot — after a genuinely superb lead-out from the team. And as if that weren't enough, the team then reported that their bus had been damaged in a collision.

Luck has been in short supply for the Rockets at this Giro d'Italia. Groenewegen has crashed twice in the final kilometres. In stage one, the Dutchman dislocated his shoulder — but fortunately he was able to continue and went on to finish third in stage three.

Thursday brought more misfortune, though. After an absolutely superb lead-out that put the team through the final corner in first position, Groenewegen and lead-out man Elmar Reinders both slid out on the slippery cobblestones — a good result out of the question just like that. But the misery didn't end there.

The Unibet Rose Rockets team bus also had an incident, the team announced on X. "Fortunately, the damage from the crash in the final stretch of Stage 6 wasn't too bad. Our bus wasn't so lucky," they wrote. A lorry had struck the bus with its side mirror, damaging the outer window.

Part of the bus's privacy blind is now non-functional as a result. The Rockets put out a somewhat tongue-in-cheek appeal to fans: "Anyone have any ideas on how we can fix this while we're, uhhhh…" — trailing off as they travel through Italy. After all this bad luck, one would hope there's a turning point coming somewhere in this Giro. The next realistic sprint opportunity is probably not until stage 12 or stage 15. Though a rider like Wout Poels could always spring a surprise for the Rockets in the mountains.