The 2026 Milano-Sanremo hasn’t been good to the Polish cyclists so far. The longest professional one-day race has seen two Polish cyclists crash. Now that unfortunate fate has befallen one INEOS Grenadiers cyclist with less than a quarter of the race left.

Michał Kwiatkowski was an unfortunate victim of a crash. It happened when the 35-year-old was about 65km from the finish line at Milano-Sanremo when Marcel Camprubi came into contact with an INEOS rider. The impact caused the Polish athlete to fall, then be hit by a teammate, and then another.

The two cyclists were Ben Turner and Connor Swift, and then, to make matters worse, Kwiatkowski struck a road sign with his foot, injuring himself even more. A video on social media showed the crash in its entirety, and reports have since indicated that the Pole wasn’t able to finish. Furthermore, medical personnel took him to the hospital via ambulance, although no one has issued an update regarding his injuries.

Camprubi looked like he was in a lot of pain but was able to continue, and the same also applied to Swift and Turner. However, both Turner (162) and Swift (159) finished near the bottom of the pile, while Camprubi eventually retired from the race. It did mark a sad end to the Milan-Sanremo race for Michal Kwiatkowski, who won the 2017 edition.

The 35-year-old recently signed a new three-year contract with the British cycling team and was hoping to boost his side’s place in Milan-Sanremo. In the end, Filippo Ganna (33) was the only INEOS racer to make it in the top 40, while Jack Haig (105) and Joshua Tarling (125) both made it inside the top 130.

But this accident wasn’t the only crash at Milan-Sanremo; three hours earlier, a major crash in the women’s race left several racers DNF.

Debora Silvestri and Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney also crashed at Milano-Sanremo

Winner of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, Katarzyna Niewiadoma was one of the favorites going into Milano-Sanremo, and that’s exactly how she performed. The Polish athlete rode among the lead pack for most of the race, including on the climb up to Cipressa. She controlled the pace, but the hill’s technical, blistering descent is what upended everything for her.

With only 18 kilometers left in the race, Niewiadoma-Phinney lost control of her bike on one of the more dangerous and tight turns on the course. A video posted on X shows the cyclist overshooting the curve and hitting the guardrail, triggering a chain reaction. It affected not one or two but seven other cyclists, while it forced others to slow down.

Among the seven was Debora Silvestri, who hit the guardrail and fell over the barrier. They took the Italian cyclist to the hospital, as per the Guardian, after the horrifying fall. The report indicated that Silvestri was conscious during transport. She wasn’t the only one affected, as Kim Le Court Pienaar also hit the ground during the crash but wasn’t badly injured.

In fact, Le Court Pienaar finished 99th at Milano-Sanremo, but both Niewiadoma-Phinney and Silvestri were unable to finish the race. As per Niewiadoma-Phinney’s husband, the Polish cyclist hit her head but was on her way to the hospital for a thorough checkup.