“What on earth is happening?” Suspected protesters run into Giro d’Italia peloton and attempt to block road during chaotic, crash-marred Naples stage

At the end of a chaotic, crash-marred stage of the Giro d’Italia in Naples, two spectators, suspected to be acting in protest, ran onto the road and attempted to stretch tape across the path of the breakaway riders and the charging peloton, before one of them ran into the bunch waving a banner, as a number of fans chased him away.

The bizarre incident took place with three kilometres remaining of today’s sixth stage of the Giro, which had earlier been briefly neutralised following a shocking mass crash in slippery conditions, as breakaway riders Enzo Paleni and Taco van der Hoorn led a reduced peloton by a handful of seconds.

While missed by the main TV cameras as they focused on the peloton in the closing stages, footage shown on the Giro’s multi-screen feed revealed that the incident initially began when a man and a woman stepped off the pavement and ran onto the road as Paleni and Van der Hoorn approached at around 60kph.

The man, wearing a yellow coat, attempted to stretch tape and what appeared to be rubber across the two riders’ path, hitting Van der Hoorn with the tape in the process and forcing the Intermarché-Wanty rider to brake and duck. 

Meanwhile, the women, dressed in black, waved a white banner at the duo, who were quickly swallowed up by the peloton just seconds later, their progress – along with their admittedly small shot at victory – brought to a screeching halt.

After the tape collapsed, the man rushed back to grab the white banner from the woman, as another spectator ran across the road to attempt to stop them.

The suspected protester then ran into the middle of the road and towards the bunch waving the banner, coming within inches of the riders.

He eventually bolted to the other side of the road, again right into the path of a rider at the back of the peloton, while being chased by two fans.

“What on earth is happening here?” a shocked Rob Hatch, commentating for TNT Sports, said as the man ran into the road.

“It’s a protest, but thankfully it was kept out of the way of the bunch – as if we don’t need any more nerves. But it seems to have disrupted things in the bunch, and in the breakaway.”

Meanwhile, Hatch’s co-commentator, retired sprinter Robbie McEwen, was somewhat blunter in his assessment of the situation: “Get out of it.”

Speaking after the stage, won by Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Kaden Groves, Van der Hoorn explained that he was brought to a “complete standstill” during the incident, the motives for which are currently unknown.

“With three kilometres to go, those protesters came onto the road,” the Dutch rider told Eurosport.

“Suddenly, there was someone in front of me with a ribbon and who knows what else he had. I came to a complete standstill. I rode straight through them, but I came to a complete standstill, because they completely blocked the road.

“Then you have to get going again, while you are completely wasted, so to speak. That is difficult. It did have an impact. I don’t know if we would have made it otherwise, I don’t think so. But it is a shame that it has to end like this.

“He [Paleni] cycled around them, while I was completely stationary. That’s why it happened, but apparently it wasn’t on TV. He didn’t ride away from me.

“I was just completely blocked, which meant I had to brake hard. That made a difference of about ten seconds.”

Picnic PostNL sprinter Casper van Uden, the winner of stage four into Lecce, also told TNT Sports: “It’s a shame people went into the road in the final.

“I reckon if you like sport and you want to watch, you should watch, but running in front of a peloton that goes 60 kilometres an hour is maybe not the best idea.”

The shocking incident, the motives for which are currently unclear, came at the end of a tumultuous sixth Giro stage from Potenza to Napoli, marred by a disastrous mass crash in treacherously slippery conditions with around 70km to go.

At least 20 riders, including pink jersey Mads Pedersen, were involved in the crash, with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Jai Hindley, a former Giro winner and teammate of pre-race favourite Primož Roglič, forced to abandon due to his injuries.

The race was briefly neutralised to enable the riders involved in the spill to regain contact, before the organisers – seemingly dreading the prospect of a full peloton screaming through the sodden streets of Naples – later decided to stop the GC time for the day at the point of the crash.

This meant that any pink jersey contenders or safety-conscious riders not keen on contesting the finish (a group that also included Pedersen) could drop off and take it easy, without the fear of losing time overall.

Of course, while more details of the spectators’ actions are yet to emerge, activists using the free, easily accessible, open-air, live on global television platform of a major bike race to stage a protest is nothing new (just ask Bernard Hinault).

At the 2022 Tour de France, climate campaigners belonging to French environmental activist group Dernière Rénovation staged two protests, one of which saw them block the race’s path by sitting, tied together, on the road while setting off flares, forcing the stage to be neutralised.

Taking their cue from Dernière Rénovation, Scottish climate action group This is Rigged staged their own protest during the elite men’s race at the 2023 world road championships. Four activists from the group glued their hands to the road, causing the race – eventually won in Glasgow by Mathieu van der Poel – to be stopped for almost an hour while they were removed.

In January, we reported that WorldTour squad Israel-Premier Tech took part in the Tour Down Under amid ongoing protests over the team’s presence at the race, just months after team staff were confronted by a pro-Palestine group at the Tour of Britain.