Cycling: Benat Intxausti (Movistar) was the first to complete the first really difficult mountain finish of this year's Giro d'Italia. After an exhausting solo escape, the 29-year-old Spaniard prevailed against his compatriot Mikel Landa (Astana) and the Swiss Sébastien Reichenbach (IAM). Contador finished in a group with his competitors Aru, Porte and Uran.
13km long, 6,9% steep (maximum 12%) was the last climb of the 186km long stage to the village of Campitello Matese - it was the last endurance test after an already extremely exhausting stage for the riders. A breakaway group formed again early on – the top quartet included Carlos Betancur (Ag2r), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Kristof Vandewalle (Trek) and Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli). Another group around Inxausti, who later won the day, was right on their heels, and third-placed Sébastien Reichenbach was also able to keep up with the extremely high pace.
The peloton behind was firmly in the hands of Astana today, who dictated the pace almost at will - the pace kept increasing over the numerous short, but sometimes quite steep climbs and 50km from the finish the first riders paid the price - leading and chasing group gradually disintegrated until finally it was Benat Intxausti who plucked up courage and pulled away alone with an irresistible rush. That was about five kilometers from the finish.
Behind it, the battle for the maglia rosa raged. Earlier in the race, Contador was able to extend his lead with two bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint. The Spaniard's shoulder injury, sustained two days ago, didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. Seemingly effortlessly, he countered an attack by Fabio Aru a few kilometers from the finish and a nice group of favorites formed: Contador, Aru, Porte and Uran didn't give up a meter on the streets of Italy. Mikel Landa Meana (Astana) worked for Aru for a long time, but as his attacks fizzled out, the Spaniard seized the initiative and launched his attack on Benat Intxausti at the front. Landa gained second and second at a breathtaking pace, but exhausted Intxausti finally made it to the finish first – 20 seconds later Landa expressed his disappointment at missing out on victory in no uncertain terms.
Contador was able to extend his lead by two seconds, but Aru and Porte are still lurking behind them. Uran also seems to have finally found its legs – better late than never, but being 1:24 behind Contador is a heavy burden for the Etixx-QuickStep top man.
Final result 8th stage Giro d'Italia 2015
[easy table th=“0″]1., Benat Intxausti, SPA, Movistar, 4:51:34
2.,Mikel Landa Meana,SPA,Astana,00:00:20
3.,Sebastien Reichenbach,SWI,IAM,00:00:31
4.,Fabio Aru,ITA,Astana,00:00:35
5.,Alberto Contador,SPA,Tinkoff Saxo,
6th, Richie Porte, AUS, Sky,
7.,Rigoberto Uran,COL,Etixx-QuickStep,
8.,Dario Cataldo,ITA,Astana,
9th,Damiano Cunego,ITA,Nippo-Vini Fantini,00:00:45
10.,Damiano Caruso,ITA,BMC,
[/easy table]