Not the best way to start your first Grand Tour of the year, but thankfully Osgoode, Ont.’s Derek Gee-West was all smiles, and seemingly (relatively) unhurt after a crash with 23 km to go. Twenty-one riders went down, including Adam Yates, Wilco Kelderman and Jay Vine. Vine was sent to hospital.
Lidl-Trek’s Gee-West got back on his bike and caught back on after a chase. However, he eventually got popped from the front and finished with the chase group, 1:11 in arrears.
Derek Gee-West after Stage 2
Still, things could be worse. It seems like he was relatively uninjured, and in true Gee-West fashion, he was upbeat at the finish. “Fuck, I flew up that climb,” he said to his soigneur as he took on some refreshment.
He went down but Derek Gee-West was still keeping the vibes high after crossing the finish line 🇨🇦❤️#GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/mOnsRUIhHO
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) May 9, 2026
Meanwhile, Guillermo Silva became the first Uruguayan to win a Grand Tour stage in a chaotic finish after the late crash split the race and reshuffled the general classification battle. Silva also took the pink jersey from Paul Magnier after the Frenchman was unable to hold onto the race lead in the closing kilometres.
What’s next
Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia takes the peloton from the historic city of Plovdiv to Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, on what should be another opportunity for the sprinters. The largely flat route includes one major obstacle midway through the day: the Borovets Pass, a nine-km climb averaging 5.4 per cent that could trouble riders already battered by crashes earlier in the race.
With more than 70 km remaining after the summit, teams are expected to regroup before a fast run into Sofia.
A straight, wide-open finale should favour the pure sprinters, with Paul Magnier and Jonathan Milan among the top favourites for the stage win.
You can catch the action on FloBikes.com, starting at 6:40 a.m. EDT. As always, your amici at Canadian Cycling Magazine will have a race report and a few other bits of Giro content as the day goes on.
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