Primoz Roglic, the three-time defending champion, has pulled out of the Vuelta following a crash on Tuesday, his Jumbo Visma team said.
“Unfortunately, Primoz Roglic will not be at the start of stage 17 as a consequence of yesterday’s crash,” the Dutch team said on Twitter.
Slovenia’s Roglic, bidding for a fourth successive overall victory, was second overall behind the Belgian Remco Evenepoel.
He crashed heavily in the finale on Tuesday after launching a powerful attack.