After two weeks of hilly roads and mountains, stage sixteen at the Vuelta a Espana offers a new chance for sprinters to win and so an opportunity for Tosh van der Sande.

Van der Sande talks about his crash, arriving after the time limit and today's stage of Vuelta a España.

 “At the start of yesterday’s stage I felt really good. I was in the first part of the peloton when it broke into pieces. In one of the descents I crashed. It was my own fault because I wasn’t paying enough attention. Fortunately I didn’t break anything and I only have abrasions. It’s not ideal but I can continue in this Vuelta a España so that’s the main thing.

“Because of the crash I ended up in the group that finished a while after the time limit. I understand the difficulty of the situation and there is no wrong opinion about it. I understand that a group of ninety riders is picked up again and can continue the race, but I also get why other riders are dissatisfied. For those 71 riders, the chances for success would have increased a lot if we had been disqualified. It’s normal that they are discontent.

“At the start of the Vuelta this stage seemed like the biggest chance for a sprinter to win but as the race evolves, the chances of a breakaway to stay ahead increases. The riders in the peloton are getting tired and let the breakaway build up a a good advantage. Less and less teams want the group to stick together. But we’ll know soon enough if that will be the case today. How long will it take to set up a breakaway and how many escapees will there be? If a group of fifteen riders gets away, it will be difficult to reel them back in seen as the second part of the stage is downhill. However I do think that there are several teams here in the Spain that came to sprint and they will do their best to chase down the breakaway and set up a sprint. I will see how I feel at the end of the stage. If I feel good, I’ll participate in the sprint.”