A hectic sprint in the closing metres of stage 16 involved the top general classification contenders, but the victory was taken by Magnus Cort, the third stage victory at the Vuelta a España for his EF Pro Cycling team.
On his heels for second was race leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), who fought for six precious bonus seconds and extended his lead with just two stages remaining. In the bunch sprint of 32 riders were his closest contenders, Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) at 45 seconds back and Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) is third overall at 53 seconds.
It appeared that Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) had crossed the line in third place on the stage, but he was relegated from that position to 32nd place for a dangerous move in the sprint, permitting Dion Smith (Mitchelton-Scott) to grab a podium spot.
The early breakaway of six riders that escaped with 116km to go on the 162km stage fell apart by the time they reached the second of two categorised climbs, the Puerto El Robledo climb, leaving Robert Stannard (Mitchelton-Scott) and Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep). Cavagna tried to go solo 17km from the finish but was reeled in with 2.1km. to go.
Watch the highlight reel above.
