Dan Martin has crashed in the finale of today's stage 5 at La Vuelta, apparently riding into the back of others who crashed on the right hander inside the final 3km.
He was able to get back on his bike and limped to the finish surrounded by his team mates. Because the crash was inside the final 3km, the Irishman does not lose any time in the general classification.
He finished back in 64th place, some 1:35 down on the reduced peloton he was with at the time of his fall, but he will be credited with their time in the GC.
Martin's Israel Start-Up Nation reported after the stage that the Irish cyclist had escaped the incident with "no injuries".
The fact Martin has escaped from the crash today without injury will be a huge relief to the rider and his team, especially as Martin's season has already been badly hit by a crash at Critérium du Dauphiné in mid August.
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Back then, he crashed out of that race as he fractured a bone in his back and it meant he later went into the Tour de France compromised due to the injury.
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The crash today for the Israel Start-Up Nation rider has come after he's shown great form in the opening week of the race; placing 3rd on the opening two stages and winning stage 3 on Thursday.
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) retains the race lead, with Dan Martin still 2nd overall at five seconds after today's 184.4km stag 5 from Huesca to Sabiñanigo.
The stage was won from a breakaway by Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) from Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Thymen Arensman (Team Sunweb).
Sam Bennett, the Deceuninck-QuickStep rider who won yesterday's stage 4 in a bunch sprint, was 136th today at 12:49.
More to come.
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