Bloodied Pogacar pulls out of Vuelta a Espana after heavy fall / Photo: © AFP
Bloodied Pogacar pulls out of Vuelta a Espana after heavy fall
Race leader Tadej Pogacar pulled out of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday after a heavy fall 31km from the finish of a flat stage eight left him with shoulder and face injuries.
Pogacar of Team UAE has won five Tour de France titles and a Giro d'Italia and was targeting his first overall victory on the Spanish 21-day race.
Pogacar fell after brushing shoulders with another rider and losing control of his handlebars, falling heavily on his shoulder and face.
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 team-mates set off up the broad and freshly-laid dual carriageway 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 Austrian Felix Gall was a further 11sec behind.
In July, Pogacar joined an elite club of five-time Tour de France winners in Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
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.
S.M.Riley--TNT
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