Defending champion Primoz Roglic crashed near the finish line as Mads Pedersen won stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana at Tomares in Andalusia.
Roglic launched an attack near the end of Tuesday’s 189km ride, trying to close the gap on race leader Remco Evenepoel, but fell and suffered cuts.
Evenepoel had given the Slovenian an opening after suffering a puncture with three kilometres remaining.
Denmark’s Pedersen extended his lead in the race for the sprint green jersey.
Belgium’s Evenepoel now has a lead of one minute 26 seconds overall from Rogic, with Spain’s Enric Mas third.
Stage 18 and 20 feature multiple mountains when Roglic and Mas will look to attack the 22-year-old leader.
Stage 16 result
1. Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek-Segafredo) 4hrs 45mins 29secs
2. Pascal Ackermann (Ger/Emirates) Same time
3. Danny van Poppel (Ned/BORA-hansgrohe) Same time
4. Fred Wright (GBR/Bahrain Victorious) Same time
5. Quentin Pacher (Fra/Groupama) +8 secs
6. Samuele Battistella (Ita/Astana) Same time
7. Cedric Beullens (Bel/Lotto Soudal) Same time
8. Clement Russo (Fra/Team Arkea-Samsic) Same time
9. Jesus Ezquerra (Spa/Burgos) Same time
10. Julius van den Berg (Ned/EF Education-EasyPost) Same time
General classification after stage 16
1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Quick-Step-Alpha Vinyl Team) 61hrs 26mins 26secs
2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +1 min 26 secs
3. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +2 mins 01 sec
4. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +4 mins 49 secs
5. Carlos Rodríguez Cano (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +5 mins 16 secs
6. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana-Qazaqstan Team) +5 mins 24 secs
7. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +7 mins
8. Thymen Arensman (Ned/Team DSM) +7 mins 05 secs
9. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Team Citreon) +8 mins 57 secs
10. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-hansgrohe) 11 mins 36 secs
