Race leader Remco Evenepoel has squarely pointed the finger of blame at Australian Kaden Groves for causing a high-speed crash in the closing stages of the Giro d'Italia's second stage.
Several riders hit the deck with just over 3 kilometres to race, as the peloton organised itself for a bunch sprint after a 202km ride into San Salvo.
Italian sprinter for Bahrain Victorious Jonathan Milan won the reduced bunch sprint, beating David Dekker (Arkéa-Samsic) into second, while Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished third.
Evenepoel — who retained the pink leaders jersey after finishing in the pack, remaining 22 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna (Ineos) — was critical of the Australian in his post-race interview.
"We were in the front, so we were out of trouble but, of course, it was a pretty nasty crash I think," the defending world champion said.
"I actually saw it happen, so we know who we actually can blame for the crash but, in the end, that's racing.
"It wasn't a nice move but, luckily, we stayed out of trouble and arrived safely."
Evenepoel was less circumspect when talking to Belgian news service Sporza, singling out Groves.
"Kaden Groves pushed Davide Ballerini," the Soudal-Quick Step team leader said.
"It would have been clear with helicopter images. It was not a nice action."
Former sprinter Robbie McEwen — who won 12 stages at the Giro in his decorated career — posted on Twitter that Groves did nothing wrong.
"Groves elbow contacts Ballerini, who is overlapping wheel in front. Switch goes through bunch, [team] DSM rider rear right looks behind and doesn't see it coming — that's where crash occurs," he wrote.
"Groves's hands remained on bars, it was a small push with the elbow on Ballerini. Not a lot in it but the wave grows as it goes down the bunch.
"If the DSM rider wasn't looking behind at the time then everyone would have stayed upright and there would be no discussion."
Martijn Tusveld of Team DSM was worst affected, his team reporting he suffered "multiple contusions" but no broken bones in the crash — which left his bike broken into two pieces.
As well as several riders hitting the deck, a number of major contenders for the overall classification lost time after being caught behind the crash.
Race rules dictate that any crash that occurs inside the final 3km does not impact riders' overall times on the stage, but as this crash occurred just outside that point, riders did lose time.
Former winner Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos) was most affected, losing 19 seconds to drop from fourth after the opening stage time trial, to sit eighth, 59 seconds behind Evenepoel.
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) is the best-placed Australian overall, sitting in 10th place, one minute and five seconds behind — although he too lost time alongside compatriot Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious).
Tomorrow's lumpy 216km stage — from Vasto to Melfi — will likely also finish in a reduced-bunch sprint, with Evenepoel saying Australian Michael Matthews was targeting the stage victory.
"He told me he wants to try tomorrow. It's a stage that suits him better than today, which I completely agree with," Evenepoel told Cycling Pro Net.
"I expect tomorrow to be a reduced-bunch sprint of 50, 60 guys."
