WATCH: Huge Crash in the Peloton as Sam Bennett Powers to Stage Victory

Favorites caught up in the crash as one rider is carted off to hospital in an ambulance

Video has emerged of a high speed crash in the peloton on the run into Stage 14. Primoz Roglic, Valverde and Pogacar all crashed. Pogacar had visible signs of road rash but didn't look too affected, all three mounted their bikes and crossed the finish line. 

Luka Mezgec of Mitchelton-Scott was still down on the deck and seemed to be the most seriously affected, he was loaded onto an ambulance and taken to hospital. "Luka has fractured the iliac crest on his right hip," said Mitchelton-Scott's doctor Matteo Beltemacchi. "Thankfully he has avoided damage on the joint so it’s not considered a bad fracture. "He will not need surgery but will need to spend a period of time laying down, normally between one and three weeks depending on the speed of his recovery. He will not be required to spend this period in hospital, so we will transfer him home via ambulance."

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In the final sprint, Sam Bennett powered well ahead of Maximiliano Richeze (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) who couldn't close the gap and Bennett had time to sit up and enjoy another stage win.

As the crashed happened within 3 kms, no one in the crash lost any time and as a result there was no change in the over GC.

The stage saw a breakaway of 6 riders go away; Silvan Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale), Luka Pibernik (Bahrain-Merida), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Salvatore Puccio (Team Ineos), Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH) and Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis). 

The peloton didn't let them get too far ahead and they built up a lead of just over 2 minutes. With 4 kms from the line the breakaway was reeled in and the the Sprinters teams upped the pace.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) affected by the crash of the 14th stage in the Vuelta a España, was able to cross the finish line, "I was almost still as I crashed," said the Spaniard. "I don’t think it’s going to affect me; the wrist hurts just a little bit, I don’t think it’s too serious, just the blow. Actually, I felt near the finish like a crash was going to happen. It was an uphill finish, there could be some splits, and everyone wanted to stay near the front. Fast speeds, lots of nerves, two riders touched wheels, and everyone went down. I think I’m OK – I just want to get to the hotel and recover. Other than that crash, the day went pretty well for us, even if it wasn’t easy: 2300m of vertical gain and a huge pace over the final climb. Two big mountains days coming up – let’s make the most of them."

VIDEO: 2019 La Vuelta Stage 14 Highlights

2019 La Vuelta Stage 14 Top 10

1    Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe    4:28:46
2    Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep   
3    Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal    0:00:02
4    Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ    0:00:05
5    Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale   
6    Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team   
7    Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team   
8    John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo   
9    Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb   
10    Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team   

2019 La Vuelta GC after Stage 14

1    Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma    53:49:19
2    Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team    0:02:25
3    Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates    0:03:01
4    Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team    0:03:37
5    Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team    0:05:21
6    Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe    0:07:02
7    Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits    0:08:12
8    Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal    0:09:25
9    Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb    0:10:31