Full injury toll emerges after chaotic Vuelta stage 8

By Sunday morning, the medical picture had become considerably clearer.

Pogačar remains the most seriously injured. UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirmed that the Slovenian suffered a concussion, a displaced fracture of his left clavicle, a stable C7 cervical fracture and multiple abrasions. Crucially, the team reported no neurological damage. Surgery on the clavicle is required but has been postponed under concussion precautions.

Overnight, Pogačar was transferred by ambulance from Gandia to a hospital in Barcelona, where he is expected to undergo the operation. On Sunday morning he posted a photograph from his hospital bed, wearing a soft neck brace, accompanied by the Bee Gees song Stayin’ Alive.

His crash, with around 32 kilometres remaining, also brought down Ben Tulett and Sepp Kuss. Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed that both riders finished the stage, although Tulett suffered abrasions to his back and eventually crossed the line more than nine minutes down. Kuss escaped with comparatively minor damage. The team has not subsequently announced that either rider will miss stage 9.

But by then, the peloton had already been dealing with the consequences of a chaotic afternoon for several hours.

A crash in the neutralised section, before the stage had even officially begun, brought down several riders, including Primož Roglič, Luke Tuckwell, Sander De Pestel, Diego Uriarte and Floris Van Tricht. For Uriarte and Van Tricht, the damage proved serious enough to end their race.

Equipo Kern Pharma later confirmed that Uriarte had suffered a fracture of his ninth rib and a small pneumothorax. He initially remounted and tried to continue, but eventually abandoned because of severe and persistent pain in his ribs.

NSN said Van Tricht would undergo further medical checks after being forced to abandon his Grand Tour debut. No more detailed diagnosis had been released by Sunday morning.

Others were more fortunate. De Pestel suffered a contusion to his left ankle but was able to continue, while Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe reported that Roglič and Tuckwell had both escaped the early crash without serious injury, despite suffering abrasions.

For Tuckwell, however, the punishment was not over. He was caught in another crash with around ten kilometres remaining and finished the day with extensive road rash, leaving some uncertainty over whether he would be fit enough to start stage 9.

Mattia Gaffuri became the third rider to abandon during the stage. Picnic PostNL confirmed that the Italian had crashed and would be examined by the team doctor after being forced out of the race.

Any sense of calm was short lived.

With ten kilometres remaining, Carlos Canal, Carlos Rodríguez, Tuckwell, Roland Thalmann, Jan Hirt and Rudy Porter were among another group to hit the ground. Tudor’s subsequent medical update brought reassuring news on Thalmann. He suffered contusions and bruising to the left side of his body, with no symptoms of concussion, and is expected to start stage 9.

Tudor also confirmed that Stefan Küng was caught in the heavy sprint crash that followed. He escaped with only minor bruising to his hand and glute and is also expected to continue.

That final pile up added yet more names to the injury list. Soudal Quick-Step reported that Fabio Van den Bossche suffered abrasions but was otherwise fine, while Lotto-Intermarché said Steffen De Schuyteneer sustained several abrasions in the sprint and will continue to be monitored by the team’s medical staff. His teammate Lars Craps had gone down earlier in the stage but escaped with road rash and was able to finish without further issues.

Clément Alleno suffered blows to his leg and shoulder, according to Burgos Burpellet BH, and was due to undergo examinations before a decision on stage 9.

Kaden Groves and Francesco Busatto were also caught in the finale, while Magnus Cort and Simon Dalby had gone down earlier. Cort reported a strained hip flexor and Dalby a bruised knee. Groves was left with abrasions, while Busatto finished in considerable discomfort.

By Sunday morning, no additional stage 8 crash victim had been ruled out of stage 9.

Pogačar, Uriarte, Van Tricht and Gaffuri will not be there. Several others will start carrying the effects of Saturday’s crashes into a very different test: more than 5,000 metres of climbing and a summit finish on the Alto de Aitana.