New Zealand's George Bennett said the pile-up on stage 6 of the Vuelta a España, in which four riders, including former race leader Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), abandoned the race, was "really nasty."

The Jumbo-Visma rider was one of three from his team to crash, including Tony Martin and Nielson Powles (USA), who had already crashed in the stage 1 team time trial.

In this crash on Saturday, Steven Kruijswijk injured his knee and retired on stage 4.

"I don't know if someone from EF crashed first or if it was Tony [Martin]," Kruisweig said. 'It was really bad. I don't feel too good, but much better than the people in the hospital.

"Crashing is part of racing. Primosz Roglic's result was good, but he kept hitting the deck.

Bennett explained that if he had recovered enough to continue running in the World Tour race, he would have to keep going.

"What can I do?" he asked. If I crash, I can't sulk in a [World Tour] race. No one cares if you crash. He said. [It's a shame that Tony, Nielson, and I crashed. Tony, Nielson, and I all fell. Hopefully in a few days we can forget about today."

The crash continues the exceptionally busy, unpredictable, and tumultuous start to this year's Vuelta a España.

In the opening team time trial, Jumbo Visma and UAE Team Emirates were involved in a pile-up and lost time.

However, the summit finishes of stages 5 and 6 saw a battle for GC, but not a full-blown battle for the lead. This, Bennett said, is because the riders are keenly aware of the difficulty of the second half of the Vuelta.

"There could have been a time bonus for [overall contender] Miguel Angel Lopez on stage 5," Bennett noted.

"But at this point it doesn't matter who wins," he said. As strange as it may sound, we're interested in weeks two and three."

The second and third weeks of the Vuelta are filled with brutally difficult climbs in northern Spain, and at the end of the third week there is another big mountain showdown around Madrid.

"We've all seen the road book. It's been a hard start, but we all know what's coming and we don't want to commit everyone."