Cyclistes Professionnels Associes (CPA) president Adam Hansen has branded the Giro d’Italia “mayhem”, calling the wet and cold Stage 10 “a disaster” and praising riders for taking a stance to force the shortening of Stage 13.
Rider power has come to the fore at the opening Grand Tour of 2023, with the peloton uniting to get Friday’s 199km route shortened to just 75km. The collective action came days after the riders failed to get Tuesday’s Stage 10 amended despite miserable conditions and sweeping sickness.
The peloton has been decimated in Italy, in part due to wretched weather, as Covid and illness have affected a number of riders. With many suffering ahead of Stage 10 after the first rest day, they voted as a majority to get the stage shortened amid reports of freezing temperatures and gales atop the day’s highest point. The request was denied.
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Nine riders pulled out after the first rest day – including pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) due to Covid – while four more abandoned during Stage 10 and another eight failed to start the following day.
CPA president Hansen, who represents the riders to get their collective voice heard, opened up about a difficult week at the Giro on The Breakaway ahead of Saturday's Stage 14.
"This year's Giro has just been mayhem with the weather so it's good that the riders took a stance. And it was collective," said Hansen.
"On Stage 10, we tried to do something for the riders and we couldn't. That was really the breaking point for the riders."
He added: “Stage 10 was a disaster in my opinion. We had 20 guys go home within a 24-hour period due to sickness.”
Hansen said organisers RCS Sport rejected the CPA’s request to change Tuesday's stage as it came too late, prompting some riders to seek swifter action ahead of Friday's Stage 13.

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"Two days before Stage 13, the weather forecast was extremely bad. Some of the riders said, ‘OK, we should do something’,” said Hansen.
“And once there’s a discussion, and we see that the majority of the riders feel the same way, we get them collectively and say, ‘What do you want to do?’ They inform me and I create a structure to get everyone involved, and I represent them and stick to my ground.”
The shortened course eased some safety concerns, leaving just two Cat. 1 climbs on the menu, although it drew criticism from some former riders who believed the stage should have gone ahead as planned – a view that was dismissed by Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in the maglia rosa.
“It is very difficult to have this conversation, because you have the organisers, you have the UCI, you have the teams, you have the riders, and to have the majority is not very easy. There are always going to be some people not happy with the decision. But the majority voted for it," continued Hansen.
“There are some harsh comments. What we wanted as riders was to start in the same place. Do the first climb, do the last climb, and ride around the dangerous climb and the proposal we got from the organiser was much shorter. We didn't have much negotiating power to have the alternative so we accepted.”
The Giro is not alone in being plagued by poor weather, with large parts of Italy experiencing torrid conditions which led to the cancellation of the Formula 1 Grand Prix on Sunday.
"What we want to see is as many riders in the race - the more riders in the race, the more spectacular the race is,” added Hansen.
“It's better for the fans. We don't want all the top guys going home because of Covid, flu or illness because of extreme temperatures throughout the first 10 days of the race. In the long-term, this is actually for the fans and they can have their heroes in the race still."
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