Primož Roglič said there is "no risk, no glory" after he attacked on the final climb of stage 10 in the Vuelta a España, before crashing on the following descent.
Jumbo-Visma's team leader Roglič went on the attack with around 13km to go, leaving all of his rivals behind, but he crashed on a dusty corner after taking too much speed into it, this saw him get caught by the chasing trio of Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) and the Movistar duo of Enric Mas and Miguel Ángel López.
However, Roglič and co did put time into the Ineos Grenadier leaders of Adam Yates and Egan Bernal, who slip down the top-10 in the general classification either side of the five minute mark behind new leader, Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux).
Speaking to the press after the stage, Roglič was asked why he attacked and how he felt after hitting the deck: "Without the crash I would be even better but it’s not so bad. There was some action, huh? Why not [go on the attack]? No risk, no glory. It’s not too bad, it was mostly a slide so should be fine hopefully.
"I was just going too fast. It was super slippery and I went in a little fast."
Roglič has looked unbeatable at this year's race with team-mate, Sam Oomen revealing to Eurosport that his leader decided he was going to attack on the final climb while riding the race.
"[We decided] not this morning, but a little into the ride" Said Oomen. "He felt good, so he wanted to try - He was also excited himself, a little bit of a surprise move."
Roglič now sits in third place in the general classification, 2-17 behind Eiking with Guillaume Martin of Cofidis sat in between, the Frenchman just 58 seconds behind the Norwegian leader.
But stage 11 opens up yet more opportunities for Roglič to steal back the jersey yet again as he continues to be the overwhelming favourite. The 11th day runs from Antequera to Valdepeñas de Jaén over 133.6km with a 20 per cent gradient ramp to the finish.
Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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