Tadej Pogacar pulls out of La Vuelta after gruesome crash
Tadej Pogacar pulls out of La Vuelta after gruesome crash
Tom CarySat, August 29, 2026 at 4:20 PM UTC
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Tadej Pogacar, in the red jersey, was forced to abandon the race after his crash - X
Race leader Tadej Poga&ccaronar dramatically crashed out of the Vuelta a España with 32 kilometres remaining of Stage 8.
The Slovenian, who had been in the red jersey since the opening-day time trial in Monaco last Saturday, went down hard in the middle of the bunch on the approach to the only climb of the day, the Puerto de Barx.
Poga&ccaronar, 27, suffered deep wounds and cuts on his left shoulder and face in the fall.
It looked for a moment as if the five-time Tour de France winner might attempt to continue, as he contemplated getting back on his bike. But after being attended to by race doctors and UAE Team Emirates-XRG staff on the side of the road, Poga&ccaronar eventually accepted defeat, hobbling over to a nearby ambulance and climbing in.
The Slovenian was helped into an ambulance, more than three years after he last crashed out of a race - X
It was unclear what caused him to go down. In one overhead video shot by the television helicopter, Poga&ccaronar suddenly swerved to the right, colliding with a Visma-Lease a Bike rider. There were later reports of a rock in the road.
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It is a devastating blow for the best rider in the world, whose astonishing run of grand tour finishes is over. Incredibly, this is the first grand tour Poga&ccaronar has ever abandoned. It is also more than three years since he last crashed out of a race – the 2023 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Needless to say, it is also a huge blow to the Vuelta itself. Poga&ccaronar is by far the biggest star in cycling. With five Tour de France titles and one Giro d’Italia victory to his name, he looked certain to complete a clean sweep here with his first Vuelta win, just a month after claiming his most recent Tour victory.
On the plus side, Poga&ccaronar’s absence will open the race up, giving somebody else the chance to win, possibly home favourite Enric Mas of Movistar who lay second on GC heading into Stage 8, 3m50secs behind Poga&ccaronar.
Scotland’s Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) also finds himself much nearer to the red jersey than he was at the start of the day. Onley began Stage 8 in sixth place overall, 6m06secs behind, behind Mas, Primo&zcaron Rogli&ccaron (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Felix Gall (Decathlon) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease-a-Bike).
More to follow…
Source: “AOL Sports”
