Stage 8 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024 was designed by race organizer Unipublic as a short, but intensive 159-kilometer ride from Ubeda to Cazorla. The riders in the Vuelta peloton would again be exposed to hilly terrain. The stage profile featured a Category Two climb two-thirds into the stage, while the stage would conclude with a Category 3 climb to Cazorla.

Riders were eager to join breakaways from the very beginning of the stage. Numerous attack efforts were launched in the first several kilometers of the stage. Riders such as Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Kobe Goossens (Intermarche-Wanty), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), and Wout van Aert (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) broke away from the peloton but were soon reeled in by riders from Team Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe.

Approximately mid-stage an eight-man breakaway group had established an advantage over the main peloton, which was now spearheaded by Team Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale in support of their Australian general classification leader Ben O’Connor.

The front octet featured Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula), Mathis le Berre (Arkea B & B Hotels), Gijs Leemreize (DSM-Firmenich), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), and Harold Tejada. Their time advantage was approximately four minutes with eighty kilometers of today’s stage 8 remaining.

The breakaway group approached the Puerto Mirador de las Palomas (Category 2) climb with a lead of five minutes. While Leemreize was dropped from the group, Schmid was first to reach the top of the climb and gain the maximum points for the Best Climber Competition. Le Berre was second across the top, while Vergallito was third.

The front riders entered the dangerous descent that followed, and they were setting a fast pace to maintain as large a time advantage as possible before the stage finale. While there had been time splits between the riders on the climb, most riders regrouped on the descent. 

The seven-man front group had a time advantage of approximately 03:30 minutes when they reached the bottom of the descent. Team PremierTech riders were leading the chase from the front of the main peloton as they were chasing a stage victory.

Giulio Ciccone crashed with a rider from Euskaltel-Euskadi in the main peloton approximately fifteen kilometers remaining. With Ciccone being an important support rider for Lidl-Trek’s podium ambitions, this could pose a problem for Mathias Skjelmose

Vergallito, Lazkano and Tejada left the other front men behind on the small ramp that the riders had to conquer before they reached the Category 3 climb, which would take them to the finish line. At this point they had an advantage of 01:40 over the chasing peloton, which was still spearheaded by riders from Team PremierTech.

Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was spotted in the rear part of the main peloton despite his third place in the general classification. A significant risk to take so shortly before the stage finale. Was the Portuguese rider ill or having a bad day in the saddle? 

Riders from Visma-Lease a Bike and Decathlon-AG2R moved to the front of the main peloton and increased the pace. They wanted this to become a battle between riders in the main peloton. The odds were now slim for a breakaway rider to succeed.

Tejada left the other breakaway compatriots behind in the final five kilometers.

Primoz Roglic moved to the front of the peloton with a teammate with five kilometers remaining. Shortly thereafter, a crash brought down Alexandr Vlasov and other riders in the main peloton.

While Almeida had been dropped, Roglic accelerated from the favorites group and only GC race leader Ben O’Connor could keep up at first. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Enric Mas (Movistar), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and a few other riders caught up with the Slovenian race favorite.

Roglic increased the pace again. Ben O’Connor appeared to be in trouble. Only Mas was able to keep up with Red Bull-powered Roglic.

Tejada was still in the lead when the race reached the final kilometer, but the Roglic-Mas duo was only a few meters behind. Tejada was caught shortly thereafter.

O’Connor and other general classification top riders were struggling to limit the advantage of Roglic and Mas. Mikel Landa was the first chaser.

Mas moved to the front in the final meters, but Roglic accelerated and took the stage victory in stage 8.

Primoz Roglic has won stage 8 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024 for Team Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe. Enric Mas (Movistar) finished second, while Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) completed the stage podium.

Antonio Tiberi finished fourth for Bahrain-Victorious, Mattias Skjelmose was fifth, while Carlos Rodriguez secured a sixth-place finish for Ineos-Grenadiers. Richard Carapaz finished 14th, 39 seconds behind stage winner Roglic. Race leader Ben O’Connor lost 46 seconds to Roglic by finishing seventeenth in today’s intense stage.

O’Connor remains general classification leader in Vuelta a Espana. The Australian rider is now 03:49 minutes ahead of Primoz Roglic. Enric Mas in in third place, 04:31 minutes behind the surprise race leader.

Sunday’s stage 9 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024 will be a 178.5-kilometer ride from Motril to Granada. The stage features a challenging route that includes three Category One climbs but concludes with a long descent to the finish line in Granada.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for additional coverage from Vuelta a Espana 2024.

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