Green jersey holder Wout van Aert had to abandon the Vuelta a Espana after crashing on stage 16 as Spanish rider Marc Soler won a tricky mountainous stage.
UAE Team Emirates’ Soler finished 18 seconds ahead of Italian Filippo Zana to claim his stage win.
Meanwhile, general classification leader Ben O’Connor managed to narrowly cling on to his advantage over Primoz Roglic but is now just 5 seconds ahead in the standings.
British rider Max Poole finished third in the stage, narrowly behind Zana in the duo closest to stage winner Soler.
Van Aert – who had won three stages on this year’s tour – had to abandon after a crash with around 48km remaining.
He got back on his bike after crashing into the hillside on a descent, but soon pulled up again and clutched his knee as he was tended to in the boot of his team’s car.
The Belgian, who won bronze in the Paris 2024 Olympic time trial, was leading the mountain and points classifications.
Wednesday’s 141.5km stage 17 is another ride across medium mountains, from Arneuro to Santander.
