IRELAND’S DAN MARTIN was forced to withdraw from Spain’s Vuelta on Saturday after being caught up in a big crash on the eighth stage.
The Cannondale-Garmin rider came off his bike on the first of two steep descents with just under 50 kilometres to go on the 182.5km stage from Puebla de Don Fadrique to Murcia.
Martin was lying third in the overall classification.
One of the favourites for the stage, France’s Nacer Bouhanni, also had to withdraw due to injuries suffered in the crash while American Tejay van Garderen was also involved in the collision.
Belgian Jasper Stuyven took victory on the eighth stage but it was a day dominated by high-profile crashes.
Stuyven edged a sprint finish to the line from Spain’s Pello Bilbao and Frenchman Kevin Reza to claim the stage win in a time of 4hr 06min 06sec.
Colombian Esteban Chaves finished in the leading group to maintain his overall lead by 10 seconds from Tom Dumoulin with Irishman Nicholas Roche a further 26 seconds behind in third.
Britain’s Chris Froome, who is aiming to become just the third man to win the Tour de France and the Vuelta in the same year, moves into 11th overall, 1min 22sec behind Chaves.
Stage three winner Peter Sagan’s hopes of another victory were ruined by a crash with a support vehicle, but the Slovakian was at least able to finish the stage despite suffering significant cuts and bruises to his left leg.
