Home > News

Michael Woods and Riley Pickrell injury updates ahead of Giro d’Italia Stage 6

Both the climber from Ottawa and the sprinter from Victoria crashed and suffered multiple injuries

Michael Woods returns to Volta a Catalunya for 2024 WorldTour debut Photo by: Sirotti

It isn’t the first week of the Giro d’Italia that Michael Woods wanted. The rider from Ottawa started the event with stage-win ambitions. He debuted at the race in 2017. In 2018, he came frustratingly close to snagging his first Grand Tour stage win, but finished second to Tim Wellens. The victories came later at the Vuelta a España (2018 and 2020) and the Tour de France (2023). A Giro stage remained a major goal for Woods so that he’d have a win from every Grand Tour.

Behind the scenes at the Giro d’Italia

The rider’s preparation for the Giro wasn’t great. He admitted as much ahead of the start. Illness affected him this spring, keeping him out of the Ardennes classics. His plan was to ride into form at the Giro. Woods kept to that plan during the first four stages, even riding Stage 2, with its final up Santuario di Oropa, relatively conservatively considering the punchy climber’s skills.

Then on Stage 5, more bad luck struck Woods. With about 26 km left in the stage, he was in a crash with a group of riders that included Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) and fellow Israel-Premier Tech teammate Nadav Raisberg. (Riley Pickrell of IPT also had a crash previously.) Woods got scraped up pretty badly. After the stage, the team revealed that while Woods didn’t sustain any fractures, he had “road rash and contusions on his right side, knee, elbow and back.” The day ended with Raisberg abandoning the Giro with a broken hand, and Woods and Pickrell waiting to see how things would look in the morning.

The news for Woods wasn’t good. Overnight, the rider presented symptoms of a mild concussion. The team made the decision that he should leave the race, head home and recover fully. “I’m really disappointed to leave the Giro d’Italia,” Woods said in a statement, “but I have to prioritize my health. There are many more opportunities to come this season and I’m motivated for them.”

Riley Pickrell’s crash affected his face and his nose required a stitch. The morning of Stage 6, he was feeling fine, but the team exercised caution. “Although he is feeling well enough to start,” the IPT said in a statement, “some slight confusion has been identified and the team is not willing to take the risk given the possibility of concussion. Riley needs time to recover and today’s stage is too risky, so the team has made the difficult decision to withdraw him from the race.”

“I’m super disappointed,” Pickrell said in a statement. “Leaving your first Grand Tour is something no rider wants to do. I came here and I wanted to finish the race. Obviously, getting through a Grand Tour is such a big accomplishment for any rider. Hopefully, I can get this opportunity again, and I can come back and make it to the finish.”