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).
Scott Pryde
Expert
Thankyou for joining me this evening for the Roar's live coverage of a very interesting stage 8 of this year's Vuelta a Espana! I'll be back with more coverage for stage 13 next Friday. Until then remember to keep coming back to the Roar for all things Vuelta and our live blog of each stage as the race moves into the mountains tomorrow night!
Scott Pryde
Expert
So after all that there was somehow no change to the top 10 on General Classification! 1. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) -> 31hr:21min:20sec 2. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +0:15 3. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) +0:18 4. Chris Froome (Sky) +0:20 5. Johan Chavez (Orica) +0:41 6. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) +0:45 7. Robert Gesink (Belkin) +0:55 8. Fabio Aru (Astana) +0:58 9. Warren Barguil (Giant) +1:02 10. Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) +1:06
Scott Pryde
Expert
Well what an incredible stage that was! Rode well ahead of schedule at very high speeds with splits all around, and an well done sprint from Bouhanni to round it all off. Just waiting on the General Classification now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
So then the top 10 for the stage: 1. Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) 4hr:29min:00sec 2. Michael Matthews (Orica) s.t. 3. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) s.t. 4. John Degenkolb (Giant) s.t. 5.Greg Henderson (Lotto) s.t. 6. Robert Wagner (Belkin) s.t. 7. Kristian Sbragli (MTN) s.t. 8. Robbert Ferrari (Lampre) 9. Tom Boonen (Omega) s.t. 10. Jasper Stuyven (Trek) s.t.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Possibly a little bit of contreversy at the end with Bouhanni drifting acoss the road, and had he not Matthews may well have got him, but who knows.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Actually Sagan managed to pip Degenkolb for third place.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Trek leading out for Boonen, but with no real control. Degenkolb was coming but then out of nowhere came Nacer Bouhanni and he takes the stage ahead of Matthews and Degenkolb. A great sprint from Bouhanni, I thought he might have gone from too far out and Matthews almost came over the top of him but just ran out of room.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Orica Green edge lead them through 1 km to go without real control
Scott Pryde
Expert
Degenkolb still has 3 teammates with 2 km to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Giant Shimano have somehow found the energy to get Degenkolb to the front and do the pace making now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Trek Factory have moved to the front whilst BMC have nearly dissappeared.
Scott Pryde
Expert
All he GC contendors and main sprinters are in the front group not with 3.3 km to go
Scott Pryde
Expert
BMC really doing a majority of the work now. Do they know something we dont? Its Evans on the front at the moment with 4 to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
And the second group have made contact with 5km to go.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Giant Shimano and FDJ have worked he second group to within 5 seconds of the front group despite the efforts of BMC, Saxo and Sky to keep them off the front.
Scott Pryde
Expert
You can basically count the riders in the front group from the helicopter view.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Degenkolb is also in the group of Quintana.
Scott Pryde
Expert
The new split created has caught out Quintana and Bouhanni by the looks of it! Froome, Contador and Matthews all look to have made it, whilst BMC have a heavy prescence on the front.
Scott Pryde
Expert
The front group has just broken again with 11km to go. Its still recoverable at this point.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Looks like group 1 and 2 have merged. BMC pushing on the front now.