Mads Pedersen

Mads Pedersen won the sprint to round off a chaotic final few kilometres of stage 16 at the Vuelta a España.

Although that was down to around a minute when heading into the final kilometre, the breakaway were not able to be pulled back in as Bonneau sprinted clear, with Perry just taking second in front of Richardson. Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech) retained the overall general classification lead, although now only ahead of Canadian Perry – who is on the same time – through bonus points. Belgian Kamiel Bonneu produced a late attack to claim victory after a four-man breakaway on stage three of the Tour of Britain in Sunderland. Starting at Durham and running over 163.6km via Chapel Fell in the northern Pennines, including a category three climb at High Moorsley, Tuesday’s course was expected to present a first conventional bunch sprint finish. As Roglic attacked Evenepoel appeared to have suffered a puncture inside the final 3km and required a bike change. Roglic, bidding for a fourth successive overall victory, began the day 1min 34sec behind Evenepoel in second place and launched a stunning attack near the end of the 189km ride.

Primoz Roglic went down in an inexplicable crash just 150 metres from the finish to wreck his own devastating attack on Stage 16 at La Vuelta.

The breakaway duo had been swept up with 14km remaining, just ahead of a small hill that softened the legs and paved the way for Jumbo-Visma’s latest attempt to end Evenepoel’s long reign in red. This followed a pre-race pledge made by the Spanish veteran Luis Angel Mate of Euskaltel-Euskadi, who promised to plant a sapling for every kilometre he spent in breakaways during his 11th Vuelta. Pedersen, who extended his lead in the green jersey standings to a whopping 220 points over Wright, praised the Slovenian triple champion for his attack and wished him well: “It was a really good move. As the road flattened out on the home straight, the Dane powered clear with Ackermann and Van Poppel in his wake – with Roglic clipping Wright as he buried himself to stay in contention. That makes it even more of a pity for him that he crashed. But the day was all about Roglic and his latest episode of rotten luck.

Defending champion Primoz Roglic suffered a nasty fall as Denmark's Mads Pedersen won stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana at Tomares in Andalusia on Tuesday.

Sep 6, 2022 But one hundred metres from the finish line Roglic swerved and fell hard, with his left knee and hand covered in blood. 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.

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) won stage 16 of the 2022 Vuelta a España in a hectic five-man sprint that saw Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) crash after leading ...

With 2.2km Evenepoel had a puncture but his race lead was largely unaffected thanks to the 3km rule. Ibai Azurmendi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) jumped clear of the bunch just inside the 13km mark but was caught on the lower slopes of the climb by the peloton. Jumbo-Visma and Alpecin-Deceuninck joined the party with around 5km to go, as did Team UAE Emirates. Inside 10km the peloton began to line out, with Ineos Grenadiers and Quick-Step taking up the pace. The gap to the two man break was now 28s. Cofidis and Trek continued to pull, with Movistar, no doubt concerned with keeping Enric Mas safe, also prominent at the front of the bunch. With 86km to the line, the lead of Maté and Okamika was down to 2-35. However, by the 60km mark it was back up to 2-08. An intermediate sprint point towards the finish also presented Pedersen with a chance to pad his sizable lead - 173 points over Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) - in the green jersey. With 10kms gone that lead grew to 3-05, with the peloton seemingly happy with the two-man selection outfront. Roglič, who had kicked with 2.5km to go, appeared to clip the bike, or perhaps knee, of Wright as he began his sprint for the line. On paper a day for the punchy sprinters perhaps; however a 1.5km climb, with an average gradient of 6%, just 10km from the finish presented a chance to launch a late attack as well drop those riders looking to contest the tricky finish into Tomares.