Mads Pedersen takes stage 16 of Vuelta a Espana as crash dents Primoz Roglic's chances

Mads Pedersen won a thrilling sprint at the end of stage 16 at the Vuelta a Espana as overall contender Primoz Roglic's hopes of dislodging leader Remco Evenepoel were hit by a heavy crash metres from the line.

Roglic, bidding for a fourth successive overall victory, began the day 1:34 behind Evenepoel in second place and launched a stunning attack near the end of the 189km ride.

The Slovenian poured on the power on a short climb leading towards the finish in Tomares to split the race and only four other riders managed to stay with him.

As the finish line loomed, Roglic was overtaken and seconds later went down heavily after seemingly touching handlebars with those of Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) 100m from the line.

Denmark's 2019 world champion Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) took the win from Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) and Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) with a bloodied Roglic getting gingerly back to his bike and rolling slowly over the line in the pursuing bunch.

As Roglic attacked Evenepoel appeared to have suffered a puncture inside the final 3km and required a bike change.

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