Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) sprinted to his second stage victory of this year's Vuelta a España on stage 8, outclimbing Enric Mas (Movistar) on the punchy uphill finish on the Sierra de Cazorla.
The short, steep 4.8km finishing climb was ready-made for the three-time Vuelta winner, and Roglič took full advantage, attacking 2km out and battling for victory against Mas, whilst Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) took third just behind his fellow Spaniard.
Race leader Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) finished 17th on the stage, 46 seconds down on Roglič, which isn't enough to threaten his lead but means a few more seconds claimed back for his rivals.
An eight-man breakaway had been away for much of the stage, but the three final survivors - Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) and Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck) - were caught in the final 2km of the finishing climb as the GC riders duked it out for victory.
"I was quite suffering, it was hard today. But at the end the opportunity was there, and I went for it," Roglič said at the finish. "You just go for it, you know. It was hard, hot. I was lucky I had the legs to take it today."
"For sure, but it’s just today," he said of his GC time gain. "We will enjoy it, but maybe tomorrow I lose again ten [seconds], but that’s the way it is so we’ll see."
A crash at the base of the climb saw a split in the peloton, though most of the GC riders made it into the front group, albeit many of them with less support than hoped for. It became a man-to-man battle as Roglič led the accelerations, putting the pressure on his rivals, particularly O’Connor. The Australian had teammate Felix Gall for company, but there was only so much Gall could do in the end, ultimately finishing ahead of his leader as O’Connor lost a chunk of his red jersey lead.
The Australian still holds a comfortable lead of 3:49, but it’s perhaps concerning that Roglič was able to eat into that with ease on a day that should be easier than some of the challenges still to come. Landa’s ride saw him jump up to fifth overall, whilst the big loser of the day was UAE Team Emirates’ João Almeida, who struggled early in the final, losing 4:53 and plummeting from third overall to 26th.
How it happened
The stage started with a fairly drawn-out battle for the breakaway, with a lot of interest in being in the day’s move on a stage that could be suited to escapees. Some big groups did split off, but the GC teams were keeping things in control and not letting any threatening moves go away.
It took until nearly 50km had been completed until a group seemed to stick, when Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Gijs Leemreize (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) went up the road. A group of five set off in pursuit of the leaders, and the front group soon became eight as the original trio were joined by Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis). The bunch finally seemed happy to let this group go, and they built a lead of four minutes.
Tejada’s presence meant the bunch had to keep the break’s gap somewhat in check, as the Colombian was only 6:57 down on GC at the start of the day. As a result, leaders Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were setting the pace on the front of the peloton.
On the first climb of the day in the middle of the stage, Decathlon and Israel-Premier Tech worked hard to limit the gap, as the eight leaders worked well together but saw their lead come down. Over the top of the climb, Scmid attacked to take the maximum mountains points, and he and Tejada split off briefly, but the leaders regrouped towards the bottom of the descent, with the exception of Leemreize who dropped away.
Green jersey Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) suffered a small crash on the descent but was up and riding quickly, shepherding Cian Uijtdebroeks at the back of the peloton, who was struggling for a second successive day.
As the road started to rise again on some small kick ups before the valley and final climb, the leaders continued attacking each other, but the break was holding at three and a half minutes as they approached the final 30km of the stage. The final climb was only 4.8km officially, but most of the last 25km was uphill on the way to Cazorla.
Israel-Premier Tech were still doing all of the chasing, and bringing the gap down steadily, but the stage win was still in the balance. Ineos Grenadiers’ Thymen Arensman was among the riders who were dropped early in the finale, as the man who was suffering from heat stroke drifted away from the bunch. A crash took a few others out, including Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone, as the race was on up front but breaking up behind.
With 13km to go, Lazkano launched an attack up front, taking Tejada and Vergallito with him as their advantage fell below two minutes. Hitting the start of the final climb with 5km to go, the three leaders were a minute ahead of the peloton, and immediately Tejada began to accelerate, but the group stayed together.
When the peloton reached the climb, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Primož Roglič hit the front, but a few wheels down a crash on the corner took several riders out of contention, including Red Bull’s Aleksandr Vlasov, as the split saw an elite front group form, including red jersey O’Connor, white jersey Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), defending champion Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Roglič.
Roglič was the one who was really digging in on the steep parts of the climb as the group became in reach of the leaders, and the Slovenian began to pull out a small gap on O’Connor, with Enric Mas on his wheel. Roglič and Mas went round the last breakaway survivor Tejada with 900m to go. It was Mas that launched first, but Roglič, something of an uphill sprint specialist at this point, was never in trouble and easily overcame the Spaniard to take the win.
RESULTS
Vuelta a España stage eight: Úbeda > Cazorla (159km)
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3:38:34
2. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, s.t.
3. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Quick-Step, +0:14
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, +0:17
5. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +0:21
6. Cristián Rodríguez (Esp) Arkéa B&B Hotels, +0:21
7. Harold Tejada (Col) Astana Qazaqstan, +0:24
8. Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Jayco AlUla, +0:26
9. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Dstny, +0:29
10. Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious, +0:29
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE eight
1. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 31:23:27
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:49
3. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +4:31
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +5:00
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Quick-Step, +5:13
6. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Dstny, +5:15
7. Cristián Rodríguez (Esp) Arkea-B&B Hotels, +5:26
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:24
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5:25
10. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathon AG2R La Mondiale, +5:26
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