Cycling: At the end of the 207-kilometer eighth stage of the Vuelta a Espana, which was shaped by the wind, Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) had the upper hand. He prevailed against Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale). John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) was fourth. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) retains the leader's red jersey.
Just a few meters after the official start, Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida) and Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) found the escape duo of the day. Both were able to pull out a lead of almost seven minutes on the field, which Giant-Shimano controlled. 40 kilometers before the finish, he was then used up.
Chris Froom's Team Sky now took the lead in the field to be prepared for the coming wind. Almost 60 drivers were able to break free on the edge, including all the overall ranking favorites and sprinters.
10 kilometers before the finish, Tinkoff-Saxo, Omega Pharma-QuickStep and BMC increased the pace again and surprised not only Degenkolb but also the previous overall third Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Fabio Aru (Astana).
They were almost 15 seconds behind, but with the help of Degenkolb's teammates, they managed to catch up in the last few kilometers.
Omega Pharma-QuickStep then led the group for the last kilometer. Here Bouhanni surprised his competitors with a long sprint and was able to keep the strong Matthews at bay. Behind them, Sagan sprinted to third place, in front of Degenkolb, who must have had too much effort to catch up.
In the overall standings, Valverde defended his lead. After a total driving time of 31:21:20 hours, he is 15 seconds ahead of his teammate Quintana and 18 seconds ahead of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).
Leave a Comment