Tadej Pogacar withdraws from Vuelta a España after crash in stage eight

Tadej Pogacar pulled out of the Vuelta a España on Saturday after a heavy fall 31km from the finish of a flat stage eight left him with shoulder and face injuries.

The race leader, of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, has won five Tour de France titles and a Giro d’Italia and was targeting his first overall victory in the Spanish 21-day race to join an elite group to have won all three grand tours.

Pogacar fell after brushing shoulders with another rider and losing control of his handlebars. With his entire team waiting as the peloton carried on without them, Pogacar 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.

Pogacar had been leading by 3min 50sec over second-placed Spaniard Enric Mas and this marks the first time the 27-year-old has failed to finish a grand tour. Mas was a minute ahead of former champion Primoz Roglic, of Slovenia, while the Austrian Felix Gall was a further 11sec behind.

In July, Pogacar joined a select group of five-time Tour de France winners in 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 was in achieving the same feat, and 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.

He began the stage with a lead of three minutes and 50 seconds over second-placed Enric Mas.

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) ⁠won the stage after several riders went down in ​another crash in ​the final kilometre. Mads ​Pedersen finished second while Jordi Meeus was third. Mas (Movistar) ​took the ‌red jersey, becoming ​the first ​Spaniard to lead the race since Jesus Herrada in 2018. Felix Gall is second overall, 1min 11sec behind Mas.