Italian cyclist Vincenzo Nibali has apologised after he was thrown out of the Vuelta a Espana for being towed towards the main group by his team's car.

The 30-year-old was seen hanging on to the back of his Astana team car following a crash during the race on Sunday.

Nibali and the car then both accelerated rapidly in an attempt to regain ground in the final 30 kilometres to Caminito del Rey.

"I want to publicly apologise for what happened. Especially for the people who are angry or ashamed of me," he wrote on his official Facebook page.

"There are lots of episodes like this and especially so after a crash. I thought I'd get a fine and time penalty that would take me out of the overall classification. After all, I won't be the first or last to do this kind of thing."

Esteban Chaves leads the general classification after the second stage of the race.