French veteran Bryan Coquard won a crash-marred stage eight of the Vuelta a España — but the big news from the day was the abandonment of Tadej Pogačar.What should have been a routine sprint day from Puçol to Xeraco was anything but, with six different crashes disrupting the race and forcing the withdrawal of four riders.The last crash happened with just 400m of the race to go, causing a split at the front of the peloton just as the riders were launching their sprints.Matthew Brennan, winner of stages two and five, was the favorite to win on the Valencian coast, but he lost his Visma-Lease a Bike leadout men, opening the door up for others.Coquard, 34, started his sprint from deep, but he impressively worked his way to the front and, via an excellent bike throw, narrowly beat Mads Pedersen on the line. It is the Cofidis rider’s first-ever Grand Tour stage victory and only his fourth victory in a WorldTour level race.The exit of Pogačar means that Movistar rider Enric Mas now leads the Vuelta. Primož Roglič, who was also involved in a crash during the day, is second overall, one minute adrift of Mas.Coquard celebrates his win on a day that is destined to be remembered for other reasons (Josep LAGO / AFP via Getty Images)AnalysisIt was said before the Vuelta got underway that the only way Pogačar wouldn’t win the race was if he crashed or got ill. Unfortunately, one of those circumstances has now come to pass.As distressing as his exit is for his team, the organisers and his legion of fans, it has thrown the race wide open, with no obvious favorite as the race heads into its final two weeks.Mas, who has finished on the podium of the Vuelta four times, will be eyeing up a golden chance to finally win his home Grand Tour, and he has a decent margin of one minute to Roglič.So far, the 31-year-old has been climbing better than Roglič — and the Mallorcan even beat Pogačar to the top of the El Bartolo climb on stage six. Stage nine finishes at the Alito de Aitana military base, offering Mas his first opportunity to add to his lead.Enric Mas is the new leader of the Vuelta but refused to don the red jersey on Saturday out of respect for Pogačar (Josep LAGO / AFP via Getty Images)But what will give Roglič hope as he searches for a record fifth Vuelta title is the 31km mostly flat time trial on stage 18. Roglič is a superior time triallist to Mas.By then, of course, Mas might not even be in the lead. Felix Gall, currently 1:11 shy of the new race leader, finished second at May’s Giro d’Italia, and gained a small amount of time on Mas and others on stage seven’s mountain-top finish to Valdelinares. He is widely seen as the best climber left in the race.There are then five other riders within four minutes of Mas, with each of Sepp Kuss (2:15), Oscar Onley (2:16) and Richard Carapaz (2:22) all genuine contenders to win the red jersey now that Pogačar has been forced to abandon.For Pogačar, this will sting — both literally and metaphorically. The Vuelta and Paris-Roubaix are the only two big races that he is yet to win. Whether or not he will return to the Spanish race in the future to tick the box is a debate that will run and run. For now, though, the Vuelta is no longer the foregone conclusion that it appeared this morning.Stage eight top 10