Britain’s Josh Tarling and former champion Primoz Roglic deserted the Giro d’Italia after crashes on a dramatic stage 16.
Isaac del Toro clung on to the chief’s pink jersey however had his lead drastically lower by Britain’s Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz, who moved as much as third total.
Italy’s Christian Scaroni gained the stage from Piazzola sul Brenta to San Valentino after breaking clear on the ultimate climb with XDS Astana team-mate and compatriot Lorenzo Fortunato, who took second.
Welshman Tarling, 21, slid on a really moist floor early on Tuesday’s stage and suffered a heavy crash right into a barrier.
Slovenian Roglic, one of many pre-race favourites, crashed shortly after on a slippery descent alongside Ecuador’s Carapaz.
Roglic, 35, briefly tried to hold on earlier than climbing into his Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe workforce automotive.
The 2023 winner suffered his third crash of the week on Saturday and misplaced essential time to his common classification rivals on Sunday’s stage 15.
Nonetheless, 2019 winner Carapaz recovered from his fall to launch a strong assault late to depart Del Toro and Yates behind.
Yates responded together with his personal assault to drop Mexican Del Toro, who managed to battle to carry on to the race lead.
UAE Group Emirates-XRG rider Del Toro now leads Visma-Lease a Bike’s Yates by 26 seconds, with Carapaz of EF Training-EasyPost simply 5 second additional again.
Canada’s Derek Gee additionally made up time on Del Toro is now fourth total, a minute down on Carapaz.
Spain’s Juan Ayuso, Del Toro’s team-mate and one other of the pre-race favourites, cracked and misplaced appreciable time to fall out of the highest 10, having began the day in third.
Yates’ twin brother Adam has moved as much as tenth total, with fellow Britons Max Poole (thirteenth), Tom Pidcock (sixteenth) and James Knox (nineteenth) all inside the highest 20.
Wednesday’s stage 17 is one other day within the mountains from San Michele all’Adige to Bormio.
