Paul Laveira was the first rider to abandon. The Frenchman pulled out in stage 4, two days after he won the KOM jersey from the breakaway. Another rider who suffered on stage 4 was Valerio Conti. He crashed early in the race, but he continued in pain and did reach the finish. A second check revealed a pelvic fracture.
Maglia rosa Remco Evenepoel pulled out after winning the ITT to Cesena, as he tested positive on Covid-19. Number 3 on GC, Tao Geoghegan Hart, crashed out of contention in stage 11.
A lot of riders dropped out with Covid-19.
DNF stage 4
14. Paul Lapeira (fra – AG2R Citroën)
DNS stage 5
28. Ramon Sinkeldam (nld – Alpecin-Deceuninck)
67. Rémy Rochas (fra – Cofidis)
171. Valerio Conti (ita – Corratec-Sella Italia)
DNS stage 6
167. Clément Russo (fra – Arkéa Samsic)
DNS stage 7
22. Nicola Conci (ita – Alpecin-Deceuninck)
52. Giovanni Aleotti (ita – BORA-hansgrohe)
DNS stage 8
109. Lars van den Berg (nld – Groupama-FDJ)
114. Filippo Ganna (ita – INEOS Grenadiers)
DNF stage 8
98. Samuele Zoccarato (ita – Green Project-Bardiani)
163. David Dekker (nld – Arkéa Samsic)
185. Florian Stork (ger – Team DSM)
DNS stage 9
63. Davide Cimolai (ita – Cofidis)
DNS stage 10
1. Remco Evenepoel (bel – Soudal-QuickStep)
26. Oscar Riesebeek (nld – Alpecin-Deceuninck)
71. Rigoberto Uran (col – EF Education-EasyPost)
104. Stefan Küng (swi – Groupama-FDJ)
123. Sven Erik Bystrøm (nor – Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
128. Rein Taaramäe (est – Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
131. Domenico Pozzovivo (ita – Israel-Premier Tech)
137. Mads Würtz Schmidt (den – Israel-Premier Tech)
196. Callum Scotson (aus – Team Jayco AlUla)
DNF stage 10
51. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus – BORA-hansgrohe)
84. Erik Fetter (hun – EOLO-Kometa)
126. Simone Petilli (ita – Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
186. Martijn Tusveld (nld – Team DSM)
DNS stage 11
3. Mattia Cattaneo (ita – Soudal-QuickStep)
4. Josef Cerny (cze – Soudal-QuickStep)
5. Jan Hirt (cze – Soudal-QuickStep)
8. Louis Vervaeke (bel – Soudal-QuickStep)
17. Andrea Vendrame (ita – AG2R Citroën)
72. Jonathan Caicedo (ecu – EF Education-EasyPost)
173. Stefano Gandin (ita – Team Corratec-Sella Italia
207. Natnael Tesfatsion (eri – Trek-Segafredo)
DNF stage 11
111. Tao Geoghegan Hart (gbr – INEOS Grenadiers)
154. Óscar Rodríguez (spa – Movistar)
DNS stage 12
213. Alessandro Covi (ita – UAE Emirates)
DNF stage 12
13. Mikaël Cherel (fra – AG2R Citroën)
23. Kaden Groves (aus – Alpecin – Deceuninck)
188. Harm Vanhoucke (bel – Team DSM)
DNS stage 13
201. Mads Pedersen (den – Trek-Segafredo)
DNS stage 14
32. Samuele Battistella (ita – Astana Qazaqstan Team)
75. Stefan de Bod (rsa – EF Education-EasyPost)
168. Alessandro Verre (fra – Arkéa Samsic)
DNS stage 16
2. Davide Ballerini (Ita – Soudal-QuickStep)
133. Simon Clarke (Aus – Israel-Premier Tech)
202. Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (eri – Trek-Segafredo)
DNF stage 16
116. Pavel Sivakov (fra – INEOS Grenadiers)
DNS stage 18
92. Luca Covili (ita – Green Project-Bardiani)
122. Niccolò Bonifazio (ita – Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
DNS stage 19
73. Hugh Carthy (gbr – EF Education-EasyPost)
Last year, 27 of the 176 riders did not reach the finish line. Jan Tratnik was the first rider to abandon. The Slovenian hit the deck hard in the finale of the 1st stage and he pulled out on the third day of action. Unluckily, Tratnik suffered a training crash on the eve of this year’s Giro d’Italia and he was replaced by Thomas Gloag.
COVID-19 cases in the peloton began to mount up before the start, causing several riders – Giulio Ciccone, Gino Mäder, Robert Gesink, Tobias Foss – to withdraw from their team’s Giro d’Italia selection.
The most dramatic withdrawal of last year was Biniam Girmay. After sprinting to victory in stage 11 – the first black African to win a Grand Tour stage -, a cork struck the Eritrean in the eye during the podium ceremony.
GC riders who did not reach the finish last year were Simon Yates, Tom Dumoulin, Miguel Ángel López, Romain Bardet, and João Almeida.