Vuelta a España stage 8: Primož Roglič wins sprint as Sepp Kuss rides into red

Primož Roglič won stage 8 of the Vuelta a España in a sprint finish ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), as Sepp Kuss rode into the red jersey for the stage winner's Jumbo-Visma team.

A large breakaway had defined most of the day but Groupama-FDJ and Jumbo-Visma worked hard to limit their advantage throughout the afternoon. Kuss had tried to profit from this work on the steep ramps of the Xorret de Catí, but his attack was valiantly hunted down by Evenepoel.

The Belgian's work at the front of the favourites' group deterred attacks from the rest of his rivals, with eight riders coming to the line for a sprint finish. Evenepoel opened up the sprint, but was rounded by Roglič inside the final few hundred metres.

"Now it is even more relaxed [for Jumbo-Visma], it was already nice but most of all I am happy that I recovered after the crash," beamed a clearly ecstatic Roglič after winning his 11th Vuelta stage. "We are just enjoying now but we go day by day."

"You always hope for the best for sure, but then the thing was the guys did a really amazing job. Our pulling had the strong breakaway under control and I had no option in the end, huh," joked the Slovenian of his stage win.

"It was hard, I did this climb for the first time and also the finish I didn't know really. For the sprint it is always a bit of a gamble, but I had the legs and I could do it!"

A large breakaway goes clear under the initiative of Thomas De Gendt

Six years on from his one and only stage victory at the Vuelta a España, there was no rider more aggressive from the beginning of today’s stage than Lotto Dstny’s wily veteran, Thomas De Gendt. The 36-year-old was on the move almost immediately as the peloton left Dénia on their 165km excursion through the Costa Blanca interior. With five categorised climbs on the menu but no summit finish, the peloton knew that today’s stage may favour a breakaway.

Read more: Headwinds, friendships and dreams – Wallays’ and De Gendt’s 12-day bikepacking adventure

In turn, De Gendt pioneered the day’s first eight-rider move and whilst their offensive would be shut down after 6km, their work was just beginning. With little over 10km to ride before the day’s first categorised climb, the Alto de Vall d’Ebo (8km at 5.6%), De Gendt would force another move and this time around he would be joined by 13 other opportunists.

Sensing that the day’s definitive breakaway had gone clear, Ineos Grenadiers began to pull in the peloton and soon teed up a counter attack through Egan Bernal. The Colombian was joined by Élie Gesbert (Arkéa Samsic), but neither rider would be successful in their pursuit of the front of the race.

Read more: Geraint Thomas suffers from his injuries, offering opportunities to the likes of Filippo Ganna and Egan Bernal

Bad news would follow for João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), who would both hit the deck as a handful of riders attempted to bridge across to the leading group on the climb. The early beneficiary of the aggressive racing was Cofidis’ Jesús Herrada, who took maximum KoM points over the Alto de Vall d’Ebo to shoot up the virtual KoM standings on the road.

As the front group eyed up the road to the Puerto de Tollos (4km at 5.8%), desperation took hold within a peloton well aware that time was of the essence. A 20-strong counter attack was soon deployed and was able to bridge across after an 8km effort.

At this point, the elastic snapped and Groupama-FDJ and Jumbo-Visma had to share the responsibility of pacing the peloton in pursuit of the 30-man front group.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Grouapama-FDJ took over the duty of patrolling the peloton for the first time in this year’s Vuelta a España

Read more: Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) takes the red jersey on stage 6

In that front group, Herrada rocketed up to virtual second in the KoM standings with maximum points on the Puerto de Tollos, before De Gendt made his intentions known once more with a solo attack at 111km to go. Over a year on from his last victory, at the 2022 Giro d’Italia, the Belgian pressed forth on a lonely, but familiar march.

De Gendt would pass the summit of the third categorised climb of the day alone but having enjoyed a one-minute gap to his breakaway compatriots at one point, he was eventually caught and passed by Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and four others.

Caruso's leading group swelled to 21 riders as a reformation happened on the Puerto de la Carrasqueta (11km at 4.6%), however, under the steam of Jumbo-Visma and Groupama-FDJ, their once five-minute gap had been reduced to a little over three minutes as the peloton entered the final 50km.

Read more:

• Analysing the strength of Jumbo-Visma's Vuelta a España team
• Sepp Kuss announces himself as a potential GC contender in this Vuelta

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Thomas De Gendt was as aggressive as ever throughout the first half of the stage

Time and time again, feeling that their contingent was overbloated with shirkers, the breakaway attacked one another in anticipation of the Xorret de Catí. After multiple attempts proved insufficient, a four-rider front group emerged with 40km to ride, consisting of Caruso, Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar).

Their advantage ballooned to a minute over the rest of the breakaway as Jumbo-Visma ramped up their efforts at the front of the peloton.

The steeps ramps of the final climb loomed large on everybody’s minds, with the rest of the breakaway mopped up and the four-man front group holding onto only a slender 20-second advantage as they reached the Xorret de Catí.

The Xorret de Catí’s steep ramps leave no room to hide

It was now obvious that the stage winner would emerge from the peloton, within which Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) was soon dropped. The Welshman's GC hopes are now surely over following his earlier complaints of knee trouble emerging from his multitude of crashes.

The big surprise early on the final slopes came from Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), with the red jersey sent out the back under the pressure of Soudal Quick-Step, who had taken over from Jumbo-Visma at the front. Lazkano and Costa were the last to be caught from the breakaway, as the favourites entered the final 5km.

It was at this point that Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) - now leader of the virtual GC - attacked, with nobody able to respond initially. Of course, neither Primož Roglič nor Jonas Vingegaard (both Jumbo-Visma) would chase their teammate, putting the pressure on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) to close the gap.

The catch was eventually made after 700m - with 1km of the climb to ride - as the leaders of Jumbo-Visma, Soudal Quick-Step and UAE Team Emirates merged at the head of proceedings.

Evenepoel continued his rhythm and deterred any further attacks before the top of the climb. With eight riders cresting the climb together before the 3km descent to the line, all was set for a sprint finish.

Despite Evenepoel launching his sprint first, the Belgian's efforts on the final climb may have told, with Roglič able to round the Soudal Quick-Step man in the final bend to take the stage win. Roglič may have won the stage, but Evenepoel may arguably take the most positives from stage 8.

Here’s what stage 8 means for the general classification

After the breakaway riders had skewed the GC somewhat following stage 6, the top of proceedings now takes a more familiar look with Kuss riding into the red jersey. Behind the American, who finished as part of that group, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) produced another impressive ride to sit within 43 seconds of the race lead.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lenny Martinez struggled on the Xorret de Catí

Martinez, bruised by the final climb, drops from first to third and a minute down on Kuss, whilst Wout Poels and Mikel Landa of Bahrain-Victorious sit in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Stage 8 runner-up Evenepoel is in sixth at 2:31 behind Kuss, which begs the question: how long is it before Soudal Quick-Step begin to worry about the American?

A team without worries for Kuss will, of course, be his Jumbo-Visma outfit, who have Roglič and Vingegaard in seventh and eighth, whilst Mas and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) round out the top 10 just under three minutes behind Kuss.

This year's Vuelta now looks to be a three-way battle between UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step. You will have to forgive me for looking past Landa, Poels and Martinez as credible challengers for the title, but Ayuso has surely shown enough to be more strongly favoured. All eyes will now turn to Kuss and whether or not the man riding his third Grand Tour of the season will crack.

If he maintains his current form, our American audience will have every right to get excited. Next up? Another hilly test on stage 9, don't miss it.

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