Onley explains Vuelta crash and admits he 'couldn't go that deep' on summit finish

Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) was left to rue his early crash during stage 12 of the Vuelta a España, as he lost time to GC rivals on the summit finish to Calar Alto.

The Briton went down at a roundabout with 131km remaining while the breakaway formation was still ongoing. Onley was able to remount and quickly continue but needed to visit the race doctor’s car for treatment.

Reflecting on the crash, Onley admitted that it happened very quickly and it was difficult to explain why it had happened

"I have no idea, to be honest. One minute you're on the bike and the next you're sliding along the ground,” Onley said. “I guess the roads here are pretty slippy.”

It was not an ideal start to the stage with a major summit finish on Calar Alto looming. After Decathlon ramped up the tempo on the final climb, Onley found himself distanced alongside Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).

While the Ecuadorian was able to jump across to Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who in turn were chasing Enric Mas (Movistar), Onley had to fight to limit his losses.

“Physically, in my legs and stuff, I felt okay. I just couldn't really go that deep today,” he said. “I just had to ride at my own pace,” Onley told Eurosport.

Help arrived in the form of Jack Haig (Netcompany-Ineos), who was in the original 30-rider breakaway, and the experienced Australian was able to help set a tempo for Onley as the gradients briefly eased inside the final 5km.

“When I caught up with Jack [Haig], he did a really good job to save some time and help me really recover on that flat section,” Onley said. “He did really good.”

Onley would ultimately finish 12th on the stage, 5:05 behind stage winner Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain-Victorious), but more importantly 1:42 behind Gall, Roglič, and Carapaz. As a result, he slipped from fourth to fifth in the GC and is now 4:29 behind the race leader, Mas.