Pogacar out of Vuelta - can Onley seize the moment.

 

Oh, shit. The star crashed out! Tadej Pogacar, the master of the long escape, star of Grand Tours and single day classics who has no equal has succumbed to the Hand of Fate.

Wearing the overall leader’s red jersey since winning stage one, Pogacar crashed heavily on stage eight with 31 - 33 km to go and was taken to hospital.

King Pog has fallen. And there is no stand-in to entertain us as he does, with mighty long range attacks to decimate the field.

Pogacar, the most entertaining rider of the modern age, who has had so few falls as a pro, is down and out. His aim to win his first Vuelta and add his third Grand Tour to his palmares is over.

He was later diagnosed with a concussion, displaced left clavicle fracture, a stable C7 cervical fracture, and multiple abrasions.

His run of good luck is over. For he has suffered few crashes in his career.

A summary of previous falls and injuries as a pro s go back to only 2023, in Liege-Bastogne-Liege abandoned after falling and fracturing his wrist.

 In the 2025 Strada Bianchi, he crashed but avoided serious injury.

In the 2025 Paris-Roubaix he crashed and finished second to Mathieu Van der Poel.

A few days before his demise at the weekend, Pogacar had a narrow escape when he left the road on a fast descent, but successfully wrestled his bike over gravel to remain upright and come to a stop. In a trice he was back on tarmac to rejoin Mas and then emphatically beat him to win his third stage.

The shining light that is Pogacar may have gone from this Vuelta – but his absence has reignited the ongoing battle among those previously confined to ride in his shadow.

How will the new leader of the race Spain’s Enric Mass take command?  He has inherited the red jersey but can he hold on to it?

Will Pog’s going unlock the potential of Britain’s Oscar Onley – fourth in the 2025 Tour de France?

We could still be in for a gripping finale.

British star of the Vuelta, Oscar Onley

It looked so, as Mas won next day’s stage nine, the Queen Stage, a mountain top finish where he  narrowly beat Onley.

Onley now in the white jersey as best young rider, is one of Britain’s future stars.

British riders have been in the frame in this Vuelta from the beginning.

Remember how on the opening stage Ethan Hayter narrowly lost to Pogacar, taking second place ahead of Josh Tarling who was third and who had started to honour the memory of his younger brother Fin, tragically killed in the Tour of Portugal only the week before?

A week later Josh understandably pulled out.

And what of new British sprinter on the block, Matthew Brennan, who delighted by powering to victory on stages three and five?

Here’s the top five after stage 9, before Monday’s first rest day. 1, Enric Mas; 2, Roglic at 1-18; 3, Gall at 1-39; 4, Onley at 2-20; 5, Carapaz at 3-26.