Twenty-four riders were disqualified from the U23 Giro d'Italia after being caught on video clinging to cars and bikes on the Passo dello Stelvio climb on stage 4.

Johannes Staunay-Mitte (Jumbo-Visma Development Team) won Wednesday's 119km stage to take the lead with four days of racing remaining, but further down the mountain, a number of riders resorted to rule breaking.

Riders from 15 of the 35 teams participating in the race, reborn this year as the Giro NextGen, were caught hitchhiking to the top of the famous climb, some clinging to their race bikes, and video footage shows Italian team ASD GC Some clung to their race bikes, while video footage showed the riders clinging to the team car of Italian team ASD GC Sissio.

Teams lost four riders from their five-man teams due to disqualification, while fellow Italian teams Cicrista Rostese and Technipes #inEmiliaRomagna each had three riders removed from the race.

Other professional teams Groupama-FDJ, Lotto-Dstny, Team DSM, and the Q36.5 development team also had one of their riders disqualified.

Paris-Roubaix U23 winner Thiel Dekker (Lotto-Dstny) was one of them, and his team mentioned the episode on Twitter: "Thiel Dekker will not start today. Thiel De Decker will not start today.

All 24 athletes who participated finished between 23:56 and 29:01 from Staunet-Mitte. 143 of the 175 starters will race in Thursday's fifth stage to Manerba del Garda.

Under UCI regulations, four team staff members were also disqualified and their vehicles excluded from the race.