Steff Cras forced to abandon "biggest goal of this season" with multiple injuries

The Vuelta a Espana had teams start with less than eight riders on the opening day, but the first rider to crash out of the race was Lotto Soudal's Steff Cras who went down late on stage two and has had to call it a race.

Sad to leave the La Vuelta so early. Trough some circumstances out of my control I went down, with hard result," Cras said on his social media. The Belgian crashed with 18 kilometers to go alongside a few other riders, however was the one in most distress, and it soon became apparent he would not take to the bike as medical staff tried to diagnose his injuries. "Broken elbow, scafoid & finger," the Lotto Soudal rider revealed.

"It was my biggest goal of this season. I need some time to heal fiscally and mentally but I wish all the best to my LottoSoudal mates," he concluded. Although Lotto Soudal came to the race with no leader, Cras had personal ambitions of riding strongly in the mountains, likely with a minor GC goal as he has been bringing in Top15 results throughout the year on overall classifications.

Lotto Soudal now remain in the race with seven riders, into the third day which is set to see another bunch sprint, this time in the Dutch city of Breda.