The race for the maglia rosa at the 2023 Giro Donne on stage 5 saw Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) crash, with Longo Borghini losing her second place overall and eventually making the decision not to start stage 6 on Wednesday.
Amidst the chaos that day, 20-year-old German Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) emerged victorious to take the stage 5 win and move herself into second overall going into the 120.7km stage 6 that started and finished in Canelli.
But one day after taking her breakthrough stage victory at her debut Giro Donne, Niedermaier was involved in a crash with Jayco-AlUla’s Urška Žigart, and both riders were forced to abandon the Giro Donne.
Niedermaier's team Canyon-SRAM has confirmed that she has no fractures but has sustained damage to her teeth and will return home to Germany on Thursday. "Update on Antonia. At Cuneo hospital, she’s been cleared of any fractures. She has some damage to her teeth, which has been repaired. She will return home to Germany tomorrow," the team wrote in a medical update.
Žigart's team Jayco-AlUla has confirmed that she has suffered a concussion and abrasions, and will be monitored. "Our team doctor confirmed that Urška suffered a light concussion and skin abrasions. The team will now monitor her closely."
Niedermaier was looking good throughout the day as she made it into the select group that formed over the top of the first categorised climb Wednesday with around 34km to go.
As the road flattened, Niedermaier, wearing the white jersey for best young rider, was positioned towards the back of the reduced bunch as they rode in pursuit of the two breakaway riders, Elinor Barker (Uno X), and Petra Stiasny (Fenix-Deceuninck).
There were few riders surrounding the German, however Žigart, who was to the left of Niedermaier, suddenly lost control of her bike and hurtled towards the Canyon-SRAM rider, causing them both to crash.
The pair both appeared to hit the ground hard, with live images showing Niedermaier holding her face, which was covered in blood.
Žigart took her time getting off the ground and was pictured sitting on the curb as medical staff tended to her. Shortly afterwards, Niedermaier could be seen inside an ambulance and was reported to have abandoned the stage.
“With 30km remaining in the stage, Antonia Niedermaier is forced to abandon the race due to a crash. Further updates will come later,” read a statement from Canyon-SRAM on social media.
Žigart was also forced to abandon the race as a result of the crash, with Jayco AlUla releasing a similar statement: “Unfortunately, @urskazigart has abandoned the race following the crash,” read a Tweet from the team “We will provide more updates after the stage.”
As a result of both Longo Borghini and Niedermaier abandoning the race, Van Vleuten’s hold on the pink jersey is even stronger. American rider, Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) now sits in second overall, 3:03 behind the world champion. Team Dsm-Firmenich’s Juliette Labous has moved up to third at 3:39 back.
