
Race leader Tadej Pogačar pulled out of the Vuelta a España 2026 on Saturday after suffering shoulder and face injuries in a fall 31 kilometers from the finish of Stage 8, with Spaniard Enric Mas inheriting the overall lead and red jersey.
The stage was won by French sprinter Bryan Coquard, catching Danish rider Mads Pedersen right on the line at the rustic beach resort of Xeraco with its protected marshes.
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Pogačar of Team UAE, who rarely falls heavily, has won five Tour de France titles and a Giro d'Italia and was targeting his first overall victory in the Spanish 21-day race.
With his entire team stopping and waiting, the peloton at first slowed down but then carried on after Pogačar tried to remount a couple of minutes later, but cried out "no" and winced in pain when he touched his bike.
He was led to an ambulance as his teammates set off up the broad and freshly laid dual carriageway toward the finish line at Xeraco, near Valencia, with the look of a defeated army, nine minutes off the pace.
Pogačar had been leading Mas by 3 minutes, 50 seconds. This marks the first time the 27-year-old has failed to finish a Grand Tour.
Mas is 1 minute, 11 seconds ahead Austrian Felix Gall and four-time Vuelta champion champion Primoz Roglic is third at 1 minute, 33 seconds.
In July, Pogačar joined an elite club of five-time Tour de France winners with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
He is the youngest rider to have won five Tours, more than a year younger than Merckx, and is the first person to finish on the podium seven years running.
He is also the only rider to have been on the podium in nine consecutive Grand Tours.
Saturday's stage winner, the 34-year-old Coquard, registered his first career Grand Tour win.
"I've waited 13 years for this, I've been second many times," he said after taking the podium. "I'm very proud of the work I've put in to get here. I'm fast again."
The peloton faces a mountain summit finish Sunday with a long 22-kilometer ascent of a classic Vuelta slog up the Alto de Aitan, averaging nearly 6% gradient.
Monday will be a rest day with two weeks of racing remaining.
Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 8 Results – Top 25
- Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl - Trek) – 3:47:06 (B6)
- Jordi Meeus (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Ben Turner (Netcompany INEOS) – 3:47:06 (B6)
- Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Bastien Tronchon (XDS Astana Team) – 3:47:06 (B6)
- Alessandro Romele (Groupama - FDJ United) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Hugo Hofstetter (NSN Cycling Team) – 3:47:06 (B6)
- Orluis Aular (Movistar Team) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 3:47:06 (B6)
- Vito Braet (Lotto Intermarché) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Matevž Govekar (Bahrain - Victorious) – 3:47:06 (B6)
- Alessandro Covi (Team Jayco AlUla) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Henok Mulubrhan (XDS Astana Team) – 3:47:06 (B6)
- Timo de Jong (Team Picnic PostNL) – 3:47:06 (B10)
- Marc Brustenga (Equipo Kern Pharma) – 3:47:06
- Christophe Laporte (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 3:47:06
- Timo Roosen (Team Picnic PostNL) – 3:47:06
- Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 3:47:06
- Alexis Renard (Cofidis) – 3:47:06
- Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education - EasyPost) – 3:47:06
- Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 3:47:06
- Hamish McKenzie (Team Jayco AlUla) – 3:47:06
- Lorenzo Rota (Lotto Intermarché) – 3:47:06
- Pau Martí (NSN Cycling Team) – 3:47:06
Vuelta a España 2026 Overall Standings – Top 25 After Stage 8
- Enric Mas (Movistar Team) – 23:23:33 (B10)
- Primož Roglič (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 23:24:33
- Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 23:24:44 (B6)
- Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 23:25:48
- Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) – 23:25:49 (B6)
- Mattias Skjelmose (EF Education - EasyPost) – 23:25:55
- Richard Carapaz (Lidl - Trek) – 23:27:00
- Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) – 23:27:29
- Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 23:29:12
- Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain - Victorious) – 23:29:37
- Clément Berthet (Groupama - FDJ United) – 23:31:04
- Guillaume Martin (Groupama - FDJ United) – 23:31:44
- Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 23:31:56
- Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) – 23:32:32 (B6)
- Finlay Pickering (XDS Astana Team) – 23:32:45
- Cristián Rodríguez (Team Jayco AlUla) – 23:34:37
- Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin - Premier Tech) – 23:35:07 (B6)
- Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 23:36:47
- Juan Felipe Rodriguez (EF Education - EasyPost) – 23:36:55
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – 23:37:04 (B6)
- Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (Netcompany INEOS) – 23:37:20
- Jan Hirt (NSN Cycling Team) – 23:40:25
- Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step) – 23:44:09
- Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 23:47:03
- Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) – 23:47:17
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