DENMARK’S MADS PEDERSON won stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana at Tomares in Andalusia on Tuesday in a finale that saw defending champion Primoz Roglic crash at high speed.
Defending champion Roglic launched an attack on the flat stage, aiming to pick up bonus seconds to close the gap on race leader Remco Evenepoel.
Adding to the drama, less than 3km out Evenepoel was hit by a puncture as Roglic looked set to eat into his 1min 34sec overall advantage.
Roglic gained eight seconds on the leader, but went down hard on his left side and suffered cuts.
The 22-year-old Evenepoel enjoyed a lead of almost three minutes at one point, but Roglic took back time on two mountain stages over the weekend.
Pedersen’s win extends his large advantage in the race for the sprint green jersey on a day when the peloton raced at slower than 40kph on a sweltering day in southern Spain.
Stage 18 and 20 feature multiple mountains when Roglic and Enric Mas, third in the standings, will look to attack Evenepoel.
