Dan Martin has dropped vital seconds at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana after splits emerged in the peloton towards the end of today's stage 3.
Eventual stage winner Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jumbo-Visma) was among the fallers in a crash with about 30km to go.
That spill took down several riders and caused others to lose time. And while Groenewegen regained contact with the help of his team and won the stage, the fall kicked off what was a scrappy finale.
General classification contenders Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos) were among a group of riders who found themselves on the wrong side of a split at the finish.
And though the gap in the main field was small, it was very far back in the bunch and that meant a not insignificant loss of seven seconds for the riders on the wrong side of it.
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It means Martin, after his 4th place on yesterday’s summit finish, dropped in the general standings from 9th to 12th. He is seven seconds off the race lead.
Though the top nine from stage 2 yesterday were all on the same time starting today and there were no bonuses at the finish in the bunch sprint, the race lead still changed hands.
Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) has taken the leader’s jersey from yesterday’s winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) based on stage placings today, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in 3rd place.
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Martin is now 12th overall at seven seconds on the same
time as Italian Moscon. However, while he would not have wanted to lose time
today he has a chance to make it up tomorrow.
The riders face some 170km from Calp to Altea-Sierra de Bernia on stage 4 with four cat 2 ascents followed by a 5km cat 1 at the finish.
That final climb will decide the overall honours, with Pogacar and Valverde the favourites going into it.
However, Dan Martin looked in decent form yesterday and now has a couple of hard stages in his legs in what is his first race of the year.
He may threaten for top honours tomorrow and having lost just seven seconds so far he is within striking distance of the race lead if he has the legs.
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