Vuelta a España 2015: Chris Froome blows chance of Tour-Vuelta double after crash in stage 11

Team Sky leader Chris Froome’s pursuit of a rare Tour-Vuelta double may have been gone up in smokes after the British rider crashed in the 11th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Thursday. Froome, winner of this year’s Tour de France, crashed within the early kilometres of the punishing mountain stage from Andorra la Vella to Cortals d’Encamp.

Froome may have blew his chance to be the third man to win the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in the same year after crashing on the first climb of the stage, suffering a cut to his right leg. The 30-year-old Froome was able to finish the grueling mountain stage, which has no less than six mountain passes, but the British rider ended 15th overall in the general classification standings and seven minutes behind race leader Fabio Aru of Team Astana.

While the Vuelta’s queen stage proved to be a day to forget for Froome, the injury he suffered may have cost him more than his dream of a rare feat. According to Velo News, Team Sky took Froome to a hospital for an X-ray after the Brit was unable to put weight on his foot post-race. Sky rider Geraint Thomas revealed to Eurosport that Froome’s foot was quite bad after the heavy crash.

“He [Froome] said his legs were okay, but on the especial category climb he started to suffer when Astana really lit it up,” Thomas said. “He got dropped then, and I was about to get dropped myself anyway so I sat up and waited for him.”

New red jersey Aru leads the general standings 27 seconds ahead of Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha. Aru’s teammate Mikel Landa won stage 11 after surging clear of a splintered field around nine kilometres from the steep finish into Cortals d’Encamp.

"It was a real demonstration of strength and I'm really happy to be in the leader's jersey," Aru said, the BBC reported. "There's still 10 stages to go and so we'll take things day by day but we'll try to defend it."

Thursday’s race included more motorbike controversy, when Sergio Paulinho was run down by a motorcycle, causing the Italian rider to withdraw from the race. After the incident, Paulinho was also taken to a hospital and needed 17 stitches on a leg injury. It was the second time in four stages that a Tinkoff-Saxo rider was run down by a motorcycle. In the stage eight of the Vuelta, Peter Sagan withdrew after a motorbike incident.

According to The Guardian, Tinkoff-Saxo demanded a public apology to the race organiser Unipublic, and requested for the measures that will be taken to prevent a future accident. Tinkoff also asked Unipublic for a move to revoke Sagan’s fine for damaging the image of cycling, a sum of money “equal to the value of the prize” for a stage victory to be paid to a charity of the team and Sagan’s choice, and for the UCI to initiate a review of the rules of “the admission to vehicles’ drivers inside the race.

The 12th stage on Friday will be a 137-kilometre flat race Escaldes-Engordany to Lieda. The 21-stage Vuelta will finish in Madrid on Sept. 13.

(Courtesy of the BBC) Stage 11 result:

1. Mikel Landa (Spa/Astana) 4hrs 34mins 54secs

2. Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana) +1min 22secs

3. Ian Boswell (US/Team Sky) +1min 40secs

4. Daniel Moreno (Spa/Katusha) +1min 57secs

5. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) +1min 59secs

6. Rafal Majka (Pol/Tinkoff - Saxo) +2mins 10secs

7. Mikel Nieve (Spa/Team Sky) same time

8. Esteban Chaves (Col/Orica) +2mins 59secs

9. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Giant) same time

10. Diego Rosa (Ita/Astana) +3mins 02secs