Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) battled back from a nasty crash to take second in the first sprint stage at the Vuelta a Espana.

“I gave everything I had but I hurt myself again in crashing during the stage and it was too much of a handicap in the sprint," he said.

Tomorrow's stage could be too hard for Bouhanni but if he can recover from his injuries he will have a perfect chance to open his account on Wednesday.