Alejandro Valverde overhauls Peter Sagan on uphill sprint to Almaden
A hot long day in the saddle climaxed with an uphill finish where Valverde was the strongest in the finale
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España, the Spaniard outsprinted Peter Sagan and Danny van Poppel in an uphill finale.
The 195 kilometre stage between Linares and Almaden was mostly flat. Three riders went away from the gun; Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Jorge Cubero (Burgos-BH) and Hector Saez (Euskadi Murias) and got a huge gap of more than 12 minutes lead.
Behind, the peloton was lead by the sprinters teams, who turned up the gas with 60 kms to go.
The timed the catch to perfection, reeling in the breakaway with just six kilometres to go.
LottoNL-Jumbo took control in the last kilometre but all the other teams but Bahrain-Merida launched a late attack which was followed by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe), Danny van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
Sagan looked the strongest, but on the slight uphill it was Valverde who came everyone in the final metres and grabbed the stage victory. Sagan was in second position and van Poppel third.
Rudy Molard keeps the leaders' jersey ahead of Sunday's climbing stage.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team): “They told me it would be a good finish for me. The idea was not to lose time and then see what I could do. The team put me in a perfect position, it was uphill for the last 500 metres and that always favours me. I took Sagan’s wheel and I wanted to go past him on the right side but I was afraid I would get boxed in and Nizzolo was coming on the left… but I found the opening. It’s very motivating to beat Peter in such a finale. It gives me a lot of confidence. I’m feeling good and I want to make the most of my condition, day after day. From tomorrow, we’ll see what can happen for me and Nairo (Quintana). I’m feeling good, without any pressure.”
VIDEO: La Vuelta Stage 8 Highlights by GCN
2018 La Vuelta Stage 8 Top 10
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:35:54
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Danny von Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
4 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
6 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
7 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
8 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
10 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
2018 La Vuelta GC after Stage 8
1 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 31:20:34
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:37
3 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:48
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:51
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:59
6 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:06
7 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:11
8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:14
9 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:18
10 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:23