Nacer Bouhanni (Team Cofidis) wins stage 6 Vuelta a Espana.

Nacer Bouhanni (Team Cofidis) powers to chaotic reduced bunch finale victory in San Javier, Vuelta a Espan

A day which seemingly was calm ended in tempest meanwhile Wilco Kelderman ( Team Sunweb) and
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) conceded significant ground in the race for final overall victory.

Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) finished safely in the front group to retain the red jersey, 41 seconds ahead of Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), but the story of the day in the GC battle is the 1:45 conceded by Kelderman and Pinot when the bunch fragmented through a combination of a crash and crosswinds in the final 25 kilometres or so.

How it unfolded

After a fraught and high-speed opening to Wednesday's rugged leg to Roquetas de Mar, there was a rather more sedate beginning to stage 5. Once the flag dropped in Huércal-Overa, a trio of riders slipped clear and the peloton gladly granted them their freedom.

Top Ten General Classification Standing

Wilco Kelderman has dropped out of the top 10 after missing out on that split.

1, Rudy Molard (France) Groupama-FDJ 22:26:15,
2, Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) Team Sky 0:00:41,
3, Emanuel Buchmann (Germany) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:48,
4 Simon Yates (Great Britain) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:51,
5, Alejandro Valverde (Spain) Movistar Team 0:00:53,
6, Ion Izagirre (Spain) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:11,
7, Tony Gallopin (France) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:14,
8, Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:14,
9, Steven Kruijswijk (Netherland) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:18,
10, Enric Mas (Spain) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:23