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Stage 8, the longest of this year’s Vuelta a Espana is 207km from Baeza to Albacete and the race should be handed back over to the sprinters momentarily before the riders get into the mountains on Stage 9.
Join The Roar for live updates of Stage 8 of the 2014 Vuelta a Espana from 12:00am (AEST).
Looking backwards for a moment to Stage 7, it was the first time for the 2014 Vuelta that a breakaway managed to stay away and record a victory despite the attempts of Trek Factory Racing and Lampre to shut them down.
From the breakaway Ryder Hesejdal (Garmin) crashed and Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) managed to crack both Johann Tschopp (IAM) and Hurbet Dupont (AG2R) to ride away with the victory.
Then in the sprint for the line out of the peloton Dan Martin(Garmin) lead out but was overtaken by Phillipe Gilbert (BMC) on the line, whilst Chris Froome (Sky) also made a run for the line and managed to get the same time as Martin and Gilbert giving him a 3 second time gap to the rest of the General Classification competitiors.
3 seconds doesn’t sound like much, but in truth every second counts and none of the General Classification competitors will be happy letting Froome have that time gap.
Looking back at today’s Stage 8 it is flat and looks to be just about the easiest stage of the Vuelta even if it is the longest of all the stages at 207km.
There are also no categorised climbs on route even though the first segment of the stage is a little bit rolling, it won’t truly knock out anyone.
There are also 2 intermediate sprint points on route for the stage, interestingly enough falling within 30km of each other in the second half of the stage.
Expect that during this long, flat stage a breakaway to go clear early but never be given too much of a gap by the sprinters teams who will want to make sure they make the most of every opportunity that they have in the Vuelta to record stage wins and points for the Green Jersey.
Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) already has a stage win at this year’s Vuelta and he will be gunning for another in Stage 8, before the race hits the mountains and then a rest day.
He is the most pure and accomplished sprinter in the peloton after his wins at the Giro d’Italia earlier in the year and already one stage win here at the Vuelta.
The next couple of favourites are John Degenkolb (Giant) and Michael Matthews (Orica). Both have already won a stage at the Vuelta this year and Matthews has worn the red leaders Jersey for a couple of days.
Peter Sagan (Cannondale) has had a fairly quiet Vuelta so far and at times I’ve wondered if he is even in the race.
It’s clear he is struggling after the Tour de France but he will want to find some form for tonight’s stage and take a win for himself.
Outside of these 4 there shouldn’t be anyone else that will challenge for the stage win.
Whoever ends up winning the stage, it will most certainly be from a bunch sprint at the end and the breakaway will be strangled all day.
Catch all the action of Stage 8 of the Vuelta a Espana right here on The Roar from 12:00am (AEST).