O'Connor keeps Vuelta lead as Van Aert crashes out

Australia's Ben O'Connor has narrowly held on to his lead at the Spanish Vuelta but danger man Wout van Aert was forced to withdraw from the race following a brutal crash during a descent on Stage 16.

Spain's UAE Team Emirates rider Marc Soler conquered the ascent to Lagos de Covadonga with a late breakaway to win the stage on Tuesday.

But O'Connor maintained his brave assault on the prestigious event by surviving another tough day and crossing the foggy summit finish line to keep hold off the red jersey, although his lead is now a razor-thin five seconds.

Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) sensed an opportunity in the rainy mountain stretch, finishing 11th, nine places ahead of O'Connor and cutting nearly a minute off the 28-year-old Australian's overall lead to lie second.

In the final five kilometres of the stage, Soler saw an opportunity to surge ahead and opened up an unreachable gap at the front, with Italy's Filippo Zana and Britain's Max Poole taking second and third, respectively.

"It's a very special victory because I haven't won a lot with this team and after two years, winning here in La Vuelta is special," Soler said.

Four minutes behind Soler, Roglic crossed the line with Enric Mas — third overall and now one minute, 15 seconds back — as O'Connor tried to limit the damage.

But it was bad news for Belgian rider Van Aert, who was forced to withdraw from the race following his nasty crash during a descent, where he sustained an injury to his legs and arms.

The accident occurred with more than 50km left in the stage, having led over the first two climbs.

At the time of his withdrawal, the 29-year-old was leading both the points and king of the mountains rankings classifications.

He attempted to rejoin the race on a replacement bike, but was unable to pedal and pulled up again before climbing into the Visma team car.

It left Australia's Jay Vine (UAE Emirates) the new polka dot jersey holder after he crossed the finish line in fifth place and top of the climbers' classification with 56 points.

Stage 17 on Wednesday is a 141.5-km ride from Arnuero with a relatively flat finish into Santander.