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2015 Vuelta a España Stage 8: Jasper Stuyven wins wild stage, Chaves still red

Trek's Belgian Jasper Stuyven took the flowers after Saturday's chaotic Vuelta a España stage. There were several crashes over the 182-km, one of which ended the race of two GC men on American teams.

August 29, 2015
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Trek’s Belgian Jasper Stuyven took the flowers after Saturday’s chaotic Vuelta a España stage. There were several crashes over the 182-km, one of which ended the race of two GC men on American teams. Esteban Chaves (Colombia/Orica-GreenEdge) retained the red jersey.

After Friday’s winner came from an escape, there was little chance the peloton would allow one to survive, especially with the prospect of a sprint. It took over 30-km for a sextet of fugitives to get away, and it rolled the long gradual downhill with never more than a 4:50 gap. Over the first 100-km of the race, the average was 46.8-km/h.

Giant-Alpecin and Tinkoff-Saxo pulled the escape closer as the race approached the intermediate sprint. Following the sprint was the first of two circuits around Murcia, each containing the Cat. 3 Cresta de Gallo climb, 4.2-km of 7.5%.

A crash in the peloton as it came within 1:30 of the break produced several casualties, and the most worrying injured rider was Lotto-Soudal’s Kris Boeckmans. Third place Cannondale rider Dan Martin (Ireland) had to withdraw. Tejay van Garderen (USA/BMC) left the race with a broken collarbone, a huge disappointment for the rider who abandoned the Tour de France while sitting third. Chaves found himself in a delayed group, but bridged over with his team.

The first passage of the Cresta de Gallo immediately splintered the fugitive group. An American who has been with Slipstream since 2007, Alex Howes (Cannondale-Garmin) pushed on alone but crashed on the technical downhill, losing his chain and spooking himself. Caja-Rural’s Angel Mandrazo became the new leader on the road but was nabbed with 33-km to go.

There were several moves as the Gallo kicked up a second time, with Gianluca Brambilla (Italy/Etixx-QuickStep) and Dutchman Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) surging to the front. Brambilla lit out alone but received several reinforcements. Before the bottom of the sketchy descent, the favourites group caught up.

Three riders from the second breakaway managed to surge away once more before the 12-km of flat leading to Murcia, but once more the GC peloton pulled them back. A moto caused Peter Sagan to crash and he missed out on the disorganized finale.

Adam Hansen (Australia/Lotto-Soudal) attacked with 2-km to the line and eluded capture until the peloton grabbed him with 300-metres to go. On the left hand side Stuyven emerged from the clutter and kept ahead of Pello Bilbao (Spain/Caja Rural) to take the biggest win of his career.

Sunday’s stage is a medium-mountains affair, though a Cat. 1 summit finish on the Cumbre del Sol will be another test of the contenders.

2015 Vuelta a España Stage 8
1) Jasper Stuyven (Belgium/Trek) 4:06:05
2) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Caja Rural) s.t.
3) Kevin Reza (France/FDJ) s.t.

2015 Vuelta a España GC
1) Esteban Chaves (Colombia/Orica-GreenEdge) 31:12:18
2) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) +0:10
3) Nicolas Roche (Ireland/Sky) +0:36