Quinten Hermans won stage three of the Tour of the Basque Country on Wednesday as falls took down three of the overall pretenders to the title on a mountainous 190km run.
Overnight leader Primoz Roglic, riding in new colours at Bora, was the first major faller but the Slovenian battled back from two minutes down.
Roglic rejoined the peloton on the final climb to save his yellow jersey and leads Remco Evenepoel by 7sec with Juan Ayuso in third at 14sec.
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But a second crash took out the promising Spaniards Carlos Rodriguez of Ineos and Ayuso of UAE.
The crash came 1.5km from home so they lost no time, but both men looked in shabby condition.
🚨 A falta de 1️⃣ KM ha habido una caída múltiple 🚨
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Almost none of the top sprinters are on this hilly six-day race, and Hermans was the second sprinter to win in two days after French rider Paul Lapeira won stage two.
For both men, this was a first World Tour level win.
Wednesday's constantly undulating run from Ezpeleta to Altsasu also produced a new King of the Mountains with South African climber Louis Meintjes crossing first over the first and last climbs of the day.
Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is the form rider on a start list that includes all the top contenders for the Tour de France except Tadej Pogacar.
French climber David Gaudu was a non-starter Wednesday due to a hand injury incurred in a high-speed fall 4km from the end of stage two.
Briton Tom Pidcock of Ineos pulled out before Monday's time trial after crashing during a recon run.