The closely contested Vuelta a España intensified on Saturday with a winding finish to Savinango, where Dan Martin (Israel Startup Nation) was the victim of a bizarre uphill crash in the last kilometer of the 184km fifth stage

Timm.

Two minutes after Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) took the stage win from a three-man breakaway, race leader Primos Roglic (Jumbo Visma) accidentally hit the front wheel of Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) when he attacked on the inside of the right-hand bend before the finish. The Spaniard was knocked to the ground.

"I'm fine. It was a bit frustrating because I think I had a good stage result," said Martín. I got hit from behind and came to a complete stop."

"It hurts a little bit where I got hit, but I'm okay. I think the Movistar rider crashed in the corner. I saw the crash and stopped, but the guy behind me kept going full throttle and hit me."

Martín, winner of the third stage to La Laguna Negra de Vinuesa, was trapped under the bike of Gorka Izaguirre (Astana) and it took a while to untangle.

Roglic appeared to have gained a few seconds on his rivals in the sprint, but after the race officials sorted out the time difference (much later), they gave Martin the same time as Roglic.

With Roglic missing out on the time bonus, Martín remained in second place overall by 5 seconds, with Richard Kalapas (Ineos Grenadiers) holding third place by 13 seconds.

"I hope to have good legs again tomorrow and I will try to keep this position until the rest day," said Martín.