Tadej Pogacar abandons Vuelta a España after heavy crash on stage eight

Tadej Pogacar abandoned the Vuelta a España on Saturday after a heavy fall 31km from the finish of flat stage eight near Xeraco, Valencia. The race leader was taken to an ambulance with shoulder and face injuries.

Pogacar rides for UAE Team Emirates-XRG and had been targeting his first overall victory in the Spanish 21-day race to complete wins across all three grand tours. The 27-year-old has won five Tour de France titles and a Giro d’Italia. This is the first time he has failed to finish a grand tour.

The crash occurred after Pogacar brushed shoulders with another rider and lost control of his handlebars. With his entire team waiting as the peloton carried on without them, he tried to remount after a couple of minutes but cried out "no" and winced in pain when he touched his bike; he was then led to an ambulance as his teammates set off up the road towards the finish line at Xeraco, near Valencia.

Before the incident Pogacar led the general classification by 3min 50sec over second-placed Spaniard Enric Mas. Mas sat a minute ahead of former champion Primoz Roglic of Slovenia, while Austria’s Felix Gall was a further 11sec behind.

In July Pogacar joined a select group of five-time Tour de France winners — Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin. He is the youngest rider to have won five Tours, more than a year younger than Merckx when he reached the same total, and he is the first person to finish on the podium seven years running; he is also the only rider to have been on the podium in nine consecutive grand tours.

Pogacar’s withdrawal ends his bid for his first overall victory in the Spanish 21-day race and removes the race leader from the competition; the peloton completed the stage at Xeraco, near Valencia.