Vuelta stage 8: König prevails on Alto Peñas Blancas

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On a day when the main GC contenders were expected to dominate as the Vuelta a España headed for its first major summit finish, the surprises continued at this race. Although most of the big names did finish in the top 10 on the Peñas Blancas climb above Estepona on the Costa del Sol, they were upstaged by Leopold König, who gave the Pro Continental NetApp-Endura team their first grand tour success.

The Czech judged his winning move perfectly, attacking in pursuit of lone leader Igor Antón (Euskaltel-Euskadi) with two kilometres remaining. Caught by four more riders in the penultimate kilometre, including Ivan Basso (Cannondale) and Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff), König went again at the kilometre banner and quickly closed down on the fading Antón.

König eased past the Basque with 500 metres remaining and continued his surge up to the line, where he had enough of an advantage to hold off a late charge by Katusha's Dani Moreno, with King of the Mountains leader Roche just behind the Spaniard in third.

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“I’m not accustomed to being in the lead, but I love having the red jersey. I’ve been fighting for it for days, thinking what it would be like, where I could gain the seconds that separated me from Nibali, about time bonuses or the right place to move. Now I’ve managed it and it’s incredible, a dream,” said Roche, who also holds the King of the Mountains and Combined jerseys, and lies second in the points competition.

“Every year I’ve come to the Vuelta I’ve thought about wearing the leader’s jersey and now I hope to be able to defend it. I don’t know how long I will be able to manage it, one or two days, but every stage you have it is a bonus.”

“It was a fantastic final day of a sensational first week of the race for us,” said Saxo-Tinkoff DS Fabrizio Guidi. “Two stage wins, a series of different jerseys and now, to top it off, Nico takes the overall lead. We’re very happy and he fully deserves to take the overall lead. But with the jersey comes responsibility and there’s probably no need to mention that it’s a very long way to Madrid.”

How it unfolded

The stage began with the news that Roche’s cousin, Dan Martin, would not be starting due to the injuries the Garmin rider suffered when he crashed towards the end of stage seven. Once the peloton was under way, more than 30km passed before the break of the day formed. Fourteen riders made the cut, although its progress was initially hampered by the presence of König’s NetApp team-mate Bartosz Huzarski, who was lying 11th overall, within a minute of race leader Nibali. Once Huzarski dropped back, Nibali’s Astana team allowed the break some freedom.

As Huzarski rejoined the peloton, Dario Cataldo (Sky), Kevin De Weert (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Ben Gastauer (Ag2r), Rafa Valls (Vacansoleil), Francis De Greef (Lotto), Jorge Azanza (Euskaltel), Alex Howes (Garmin-Sharp), Thierry Hupond (Argos-Shimano), Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge), Matthew Busche (RadioShack-Leopard), Dominik Nerz (BMC), Antonio Piedra (Caja Rural) and Beñat Intxausti (Movistar) pushed their advantage out to more than four minutes.

From 60km out, the peloton began to chip away at that lead. With 20km remaining it was down to 2-12. Ivan Basso then ordered his men to the front to trim it back a bit more. On the final approach to the climb, RadioShack took over the pacemaking, clearly intent on setting up Horner.

The steepest ramps of the Peñas Blancas come early, and they shredded the riders in the break. With 12km left, only Cataldo, Nerz and Valls remained at the front. Behind, Fabian Cancellara led the peloton up these steep ramps at a ferocious rate, cutting the break’s lead to a minute. When “Spartacus” pulled aside with 9km remaining, Busche was in the right place having dropped back from the break to take over pacesetting duties from the Swiss.

After Valls fell back with 7km left, Cataldo and Nerz pressed on for another couple of kilometres. Then, with the bunch bearing down on them, they shook hands and left the stage to the GC guys, who were still being led by Busche.

Euskaltel climber Antón was the first to attack from this group, zipping clear with 4.7km to the line. The Basque quickly gained 15 seconds, but never seemed likely to stay clear once the counterattacks began from the red jersey group close behind him.

Movistar’s Eros Capecchi was the first to go, but Horner produced the strongest surge, which saw a number of GC outsiders fall back, including Antón’s team leader, Samuel Sánchez. Antón, though, still had nine seconds in hand at the 2km banner, and gained a few more when the GC contenders regrouped and waited for the next move.

It came from König, who accelerated away, chased by Thibault Pinot (FDJ), Basso, Moreno and Roche. It was interesting to note that Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) and Nibali all failed or perhaps declined to chase these riders, perhaps thinking ahead to tomorrow’s tough finish at Valdepeñas de Jaén and, more particularly, Monday’s summit finish on the Alto Hazallanas.