Britain’s Josh Tarling and former champion Primoz Roglic abandoned the Giro d’Italia after crashes on a dramatic stage 16.

Isaac del Toro clung on to the leader’s pink jersey but had his lead drastically cut by Britain’s Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz, who moved up to third overall.

Italy’s Christian Scaroni won the stage from Piazzola sul Brenta to San Valentino after breaking clear on the final climb with XDS Astana team-mate and compatriot Lorenzo Fortunato, who took second.

Welshman Tarling, 21, slid on a very wet surface early on Tuesday’s stage and suffered a heavy crash into a barrier.

Slovenian Roglic, one of the pre-race favourites, crashed shortly after on a slippery descent alongside Ecuador’s Carapaz.

Roglic, 35, briefly attempted to carry on before climbing into his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team car.

The 2023 winner suffered his third crash of the week on Saturday and lost crucial time to his general classification rivals on Sunday’s stage 15.

However, 2019 winner Carapaz recovered from his fall to launch a powerful attack late to leave Del Toro and Yates behind.

Yates responded with his own attack to drop Mexican Del Toro, who managed to fight to hold on to the race lead.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Del Toro now leads Visma-Lease a Bike’s Yates by 26 seconds, with Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost just five second further back.

Canada’s Derek Gee also made up time on Del Toro is now fourth overall, a minute down on Carapaz.

Spain’s Juan Ayuso, Del Toro’s team-mate and another of the pre-race favourites, cracked and lost considerable time to fall out of the top 10, having started the day in third.

Yates’ twin brother Adam has moved up to 10th overall, with fellow Britons Max Poole (13th), Tom Pidcock (16th) and James Knox (19th) all inside the top 20.

Wednesday’s stage 17 is another day in the mountains from San Michele all’Adige to Bormio.