Vuelta a Espana general classification contenders Nicolas Roche and Rigoberto Uran both abandoned the race after a pile-up on stage six on Thursday.

A crash in the peloton with 80 kilometres of the 198.9km ride from Mora de Rubielos to Ares del Maestrat forced Roche, who had held the red jersey for three days, and Uran to give up their respective campaigns.

Hugh Carthy and Victor de la Parte were also caught up in the incident and had to withdraw.

Roche had begun the day in fifth, 57 seconds adrift of GC leader Miguel Angel Lopez after the Astana rider took the red jersey from the Irishman with a brilliant attack on stage five's final climb. Uran was a further two seconds behind in sixth.

Lopez was 14 seconds clear of Primoz Roglic going into the second successive summit finish.

Unfortunately as a result of that crash, @nicholasroche has been forced to abandon #LaVuelta19??. Updates to follow as we have them. pic.twitter.com/poNiTK2y0i

— Team Sunweb (@TeamSunweb) August 29, 2019

Abandonos importantes a consecuencia de una caída masiva / @UranRigoberto, Hugh Carthy and Víctor De La Parte are out of the race after a massive crash. #LaVuelta19 https://t.co/O2kwchxw1f

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 29, 2019