Primož Roglič abandons Vuelta a España following stage 16 crash

This article originally appeared on Velo News

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) has abandoned the Vuelta a Espana.

The news was confirmed Wednesday morning by his Jumbo-Visma team.

“Unfortunately, Primoz Roglic will not be at the start of stage 17 as a consequence of yesterday's crash. Get well soon, champion! Thank you for all the beautiful moments in this Vuelta. You had ambitious plans for the final days, but sadly it isn't meant to be,” the team stated.

Roglic had been sitting in second overall following a dramatic stage 16. He attacked in the closing kilometers, dropping all his GC rivals in the process but a crash with around 150m to go took the Slovenian down in a heavy fall.

He still managed to finish the stage and take eight seconds out of overall race leader, Remco Evenepoel, but the injuries sustained were clearly too much for the three-time Vuelta winner to carry on.

"I think bizarre is a good word," Jumbo-Visma DS Addy Engels said after the stage.

"We had the plan to try to go for it for a stage result but also to take back time in the GC. I think the plan went really well, Primoz got in front with a small group to the finish, but what happened we didn't even know because we had television but the crash we missed. We thought he had finished in the group ahead of the first bunch.

"Suddenly we heard that he crashed in the last straight. The plan that we had, there was a very small chance that we succeeded on a final like this. We succeeded but then it went all wrong in the last few hundred meters. We have to see how bad the injuries are. Obviously, he's injured. He's on the bus now and trying to clean everything, but we have to see how he is. To me, it looks like more than eight seconds these injuries."

Roglic was already in a less than ideal state coming into the race having also abandoned the Tour de France in July due to injuries sustained in a crash.

His participation in the Vuelta was not confirmed until a few days before the race and he was off-the pace during several stages despite winning stage 4 and holding the lead for a brief period of time.

He was unable to live with Evenepoel through several mountain stages, but in the final week of racing, it looked as though the tables had begun to slowly shift in Roglic’s favor. Now out of the race, it’s Enric Mas (Movistar) who is Evenepoel’s closest challenger at 2:01.

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