‘Clumsy one’ – Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates involved in big crash and pile-up at Giro d’Italia on Stage 15

Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) were caught up in a big pile-up in the early running on Stage 15 at the Giro d’Italia.

The new pink jersey and Saturday’s champ were flung onto a grassy verge after a touch of wheels in the peloton with 171km remaining on the run from Rivarolo Canavese to Cogne.

About a dozen riders hit the deck while the back of the peloton came to a standstill as limbs were untangled from carbon fibre.

“We’ve had a fall with the maglia rosa involved. It looks more of a clumsy one than anything else,” said Rob Hatch on Eurosport commentary.

The Ecuadorian was in the maglia rosa after seizing it from long-time owner Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo). He boasts a seven-second lead from Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe).

“I think he’s just got a bit of a muddy shoulder. Doesn’t look to be any more marks on him,” added Hatch as the camera panned to the favourite.

Diego Ulissi, Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) were also caught up in the incident.

“It looks OK but there’s no good time to have a fall,” said five-time Tour de France stage winner Sean Kelly.

“Getting delayed like this is not what you want at this point in the race. It’s not nice when you hit the deck at any time.

“This could be one where you see riders going out of the race, but thankfully everyone seems to be back on their bike.”

Carapaz also ended up in a hay bale earlier this week in an eventful start to the Italian Grand Tour for the 2019 champion.

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