Calderón collects in Bogotá

After a gutsy escape before the day's final climb, Nectar de Cundinamarca rider Diego Calderón soloed to a victory among a huge crowd lining Bogotá's famed Plaza de Bolívar during stage eight of the Vuelta a Colombia.

Calderón shook EPM-UNE's Freddy Piamonte before the day's last climb and never looked back, finishing first on the stage, 1:43 ahead of Piamonte and 3:43 ahead of EBSA's Oscar Solis who out-sprinted Boyacá Orgullo de America's Gregorio Ladino to take third.

"I'm really happy to win today's stage, especially because it is in the team's home department," said Calderón. "I loved seeing all the fans today pushing for the team to win the stage."

Óscar Sevilla maintained his lead in the general classification after spending the day guarded by his Indeportes Antioquia teammates and finishing with the peloton. Sevilla still holds an 11-second lead over teammate Sergio Luis Henao, 35 seconds separating himself and Colombia es Pasión's Dalivier Ospina in third.

"Today was a very calm day, but the team still worked really hard all day," said Sevilla. "Every day has one part that is really hard. Yesterday was the climb from the world championships, today it was up the Alto de Patios."

Rain was in the forecast for Sunday's stage, but luckily for the field the skies were clear and the air was brisk when the riders pushed of the line in Duitama, sight of the 1995 Road World Championship. The 207km stage featured five category three climbs as it weaved its way out of the Boyacá department and into Cundinamarca, before finishing in the capital.

After the day's first sprint, 51km into the stage, a group of 13 riders broke from the main field, including Calderón, Piamonte and Solis as well as 1994 U-19 points champion Marlon Pérez of GW Shimano.

Solis, who at the day's start was second in the King of the Mountains competition, made the tactical move to go with the break and gain some valuable points on GW Shimano's Jaime Vegara during the day's five climbs. Solis took first on the day's first climb and second on the Alto de Ventaquemada, the day's second, to earn himself top spot in the King of the Mountains.

"On day one I set a goal to pick up a stage win," the Bolivian Solis said. "Right now though, I'm very happy to take the King of the Mountains jersey and I'll try my hardest to defend it."

By the time the break hit the flat section after the Alto de Ventaquemada they had amassed a lead of over six minutes on the main field. However a second group of three riders broke away from the peloton about 91 km in as the race passed through the town on Choconta.

This group included Ladino, his teammate Edwin Parra and Indeportes Antioquia's Rafael Montiel and after the third climb, the Alto del Sisga, they had closed the gap between the first break to just over two minutes.

Even with the strong work up front by the Indeportes Antioquia squad, the first breakaway kept gaining time and had a seven minute margin over the main field when it passed through the second sprint at 143 km.

The group containing Ladino caught up with the first break between the second sprint and the Alto de las Arepas, the day's fourth climb, where things started to get interesting.

Between the Alto de las Arepas and the final climb into Bogotá, the Alto de Patios, Pérez attacked and was tagged by Ladino. The two gained around 20 seconds on the their chasers before Calderón and Piamonte skipped out of the group to catch up with the two riders out front.

Calderón and Piamonte then passed Pérez and Ladino and kept a slight lead over them until the lead up to Alto de Patios, where Calderón made his move before the road turned upwards.

The Nectar de Cundinamarca rider was first to cross over the final climb and descended into the sprawling valley alone to take his victory ride through the streets of Bogotá.

"I told my director that I'd go today because I had only two options," said Calderón. "To win or to lose it all."

Monday's stage nine between Bogotá and Líbano is arguably the hardest stage in this year's Vuelta a Colombia, with four categorised climbs over 229km, including the grueling Alto Virgen only 1.3km before the finish.

Add to this that rider's will be tired from today's long stage and that Tuesday is the queen stage up La Linea and there should be a lot of suffering in the peloton.

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