Miguel Angel Lopez's hopes of a Vuelta a España podium finish suffered a double blow on Wednesday's high-speed echelon stage to Guadalajara.

The Astana rider lost 5:19 to Nairo Quintana, who jumped up to second place overall and pushed Lopez down to fifth. In addition, after the stage, Lopez received an additional 10-second penalty from the race judges for an illegal handsling from Astana teammate Jacob Fuglsang.

The penalty left him 4:09 behind race leader Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and 27 seconds behind Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) in fourth place overall.

After a windy stage that put Quintana in the breakaway, Quintana is now 2:24 behind Roglic and Movistar teammate Alejandro Valverde is in third at 2:48.

Lopez and Fuglsang were penalized 10 seconds in the official results for hand-slinging on the fast stage to Guadalajara. The race referee used video assisted refereeing and television images to identify the violations during the intense moments of the stage and during the chase for the break. He was also fined 500 Swiss francs.

The Astana team was forced to join Quintana's attack at the end of stage 17 after Movistar's pace-setting left them without a teammate. Despite their efforts, the time difference at the finish was still over 5 minutes, meaning that Lopez's hopes of a podium finish had already taken a hit before the time penalty.

While hand-slinging is legal in a two-person Madison on the track, it is illegal in a road race because it gives the rider an unfair advantage and can cause a crash.