Pogačar abandons La Vuelta after heavy crash 33km from finish

BREAKING: Tadej Pogacar abandons La Vuelta after a heavy crash 33km from the finish, taken to hospital by ambulance while leading the race.

Tadej Pogačar is out of La Vuelta, taken to hospital by ambulance while leading the race.

He crashed heavily 33 kilometres from the finish today. One moment the best rider of his generation was in the red jersey, controlling the race, and the next he was on the tarmac and the medical car was pulling up. This is him earlier in this Vuelta, on the podium in red, exactly where everyone expected him to stay until Madrid.

He came into Spain chasing another Grand Tour title, and the sport had frankly stopped asking whether he'd win and started asking by how much. Now the race is blown wide open, and the only question that actually matters tonight is what the hospital says.

No official word yet on his injuries. Until there is, everything else about this Vuelta is a footnote.

This is Kateryna Kovalenko, reporting for HIT.