Chris Froome crashed twice on Thursday as rivals reduced his Vuelta e Espana lead in Stage 12, which was won by Lotto-Soudal rider Tomasz Marczynski.
Four-time Tour de France winner Froome needed help from two Sky teammates to limit the time lost after he tumbled to the asphalt twice on the stage’s long, final descent when trying to respond to a surprise attack by Alberto Contador.
Vincenzo Nibali cut 20 seconds off Froome’s advantage and now trails by 59 seconds.
“It’s never nice to crash like that. I am just grateful that I am not injured,” Froome said.
While Froome chased his title rivals, Marczynski clinched his second stage win of this edition.
The Pole separated from the other breakaway riders on the way down from the second of two climbs in the hilly 160.1km ride from Montril to Antequera.
“It was my dream since I was a kid to win a stage at a big race all alone and today that dream came true,” Marczynski said after crossing the finish line in 3 hours, 56 minutes, 45 seconds, nearly a minute ahead of Omar Fraile.
Contador, a three-time Vuelta winner, is set to retire after his home event and is launching attacks on nearly every stage.
The Spaniard knocked 42 seconds off the difference with Froome, yet remained in ninth at 3 minutes, 13 seconds back.
Froome said that the stage was relatively calm “until Contador attacked.”
“I was just focused on coming back to the group and I was very lucky to have two teammates with me,” Froome said.
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