Vuelta a Espana 2018: Stage 8

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January 1 - September 16, Linares, Spain, Road - GT

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Hola! It's stage 8 of the Vuelta a España. Sunday's summit finish at La Covatilla looms large but first the riders have to tackle this 195km stage from Linares to Almadén. With just one categorised climb on the menu, it should - and you have to be careful about these things in the Vuelta - culminate in a bunch finish, though the uphill drag in the final kilometres could see quite an open sprint. 

The riders have just rolled out of Linares and are making their way through the neutralised zone.

Before we get going, how about a recap of yesterday's action? Report, results, photos from stage 7 - all in the following link. 

Rudy Molard remains in the leader's jersey and while Sunday's stage might cause some trepidation later this evening, he cut a pretty relaxed figure this morning. 

They're off!

Almost immediately, we have a breakaway. 

185km remaining from 195km

Here's that uphill finale I was talking about. Will this be enough to take the sting out of Viviani's sprint? Peter Sagan was second yesterday behind the solo winner Gallopin, so if his legs have indeed improved compared to the first couple of days then he could be in with a real shout here.

175km remaining from 195km

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163km remaining from 195km

The last couple of days have seen some frantic racing in the closing kilometres. Dan Martin was particularly unhappy yesterday and vented his frustration with the race organisers. "We’ve been riding on these beautiful roads all day and then the last 15 kilometres it’s just chaos," he said. Full story at the link below.

FDJ are at the head of the peloton, fulfilling their duties with the red leader's jersey on the shoulders of Molard. They're not exerting themselves, however, and the gap continues to grow. 10:45 now. Quick-Step and the other teams interested in a sprint will come to the front and bring the break back later in the day.

43.6km/h covered by the break in that first hour.

Trek and Bora are contributing to the pacemaking in the peloton now. Bora, of course, have Sagan as a favourite for today, while Trek are backing Giacomo Nizzolo, who was second to Viviani a few days ago.

The gap has stabilised at the 11-minute mark.

120km remaining from 195km

The leading trio hit the climb with a lead of 12 minutes.

Breaking news today in that ONE Pro Cycling will fold at the end of the season. Well, not completely. They're cutting their current men's squad and will instead create a new women's team. Full story here. 

If you haven't seen Tiesj Benoot's injured knee, then I envy you. No way am I going to post that photo in here, but here's what the Belgian had to say this morning. 

95km remaining from 195km

The usual rule of thumb is that the peloton will take back a minute every 10km. They're just outside that at the moment but with just three riders out front, this gap shouldn't present too much of a headache.

Puncture for Rigoberto Urán, who has a couple of teammates dropping to help him back to the peloton, where the tempo has been lifted.

82km remaining from 195km

It's Quick-Step on the front at the moment, but they don't see this as the best opportunity for Viviani.

75km remaining from 195km

Cofidis are contributing now, too. Nacer Bouhanni has had a terrible season but he rescued it with a win on stage 6.

Our man in Spain Alasdair Fotheringham has driven today's finale en route to the press room and has this to report. 

With 65km to go, the gap stands at 7 minutes. 

Cubero took the points at the intermediate sprint, ahead of Saez and Machado.

Quick-Step continue to trade turns with Bora, Trek and Cofidis.

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With 55km to go, the gap is down to 5:40. The roads are very much undulating now, and every false flat is hurting the three escapees. 

Mechanical for Sagan, who's making his way back through the cars, with a lengthy spell behind LottoNL. 

Sagan is still chasing and a time check puts him just under a minute down.

Sagan makes it back in.

44km remaining from 195km

Quick-Step, Cofidis, Trek, and Bora continue to keep the pace high. The gap is down to 2:50 with 33.5km to go and the peloton are making no mistakes here. 

30km remaining from 195km

22km remaining from 195km

A reminder that today's run-in is anything but straight-forward. There's a roundabout near the end and then another sharp bend in the final few hundred metres. And then there's the hill...

With 14km to go, the gap to Machado, Cubero and Saez is down to one minute.

The three leaders plough on. It's been a hell of an effort out there with just three of them in near-40-degree heat and almost 200km in the saddle. 

8km remaining from 195km

Machado looks over his shoulder and sees the charging pack, and so he puts in a big acceleration. The other two spring out of the saddle to match him. They're only prolonging the inevitable, but the last man standing should take the combativity prize.

Machado goes again and finally drops Cubero and Saez. Going by some of his gestures earlier, he was the chief contributor to that break and he is indeed the last man standing.

6km remaining from 195km

Machado is caught. All together!

AG2R are prominent, as are Astana. 

Team Sky are doing their thing, while Movistar - as has been the case throughout this Vuelta - are keen to be well positioned towards the front.

5km remaining from 195km

Big acceleration from Lotto and it's Tiesj Benoot with a teammate on the wheel. Postlberger tracks it from Bora.

No gap for now but the bunch has suddenly strung out.

It's Campenaerts on the front for Lotto but his turn is done now. Postlberger doesn't want to take it up so it's UAE, with Astana in the wheels. 

It looks like Astana's Omar Fraile - who won in Mende at the recent Tour de France - fancies this one. 

Postlberger does take it up now, with just under 3 to go.

Viviani and Valverde are side-by-side in the middle of the pack.

Astana take it up now with 2km to go. The pace just drains slightly as the bunch spreads across the road.

Team Sky and Mitchelton suddenly find themselves on the front. 

1500m to go and the roads narrow now.

The gradient is starting to bit now. Everyone's out of the saddle.

LottoNL take it up with numbers. 

1km remaining from 195km

Still LottoNL on the front with three.

700m to go and big switchback at that roundabout.

LottoNL deal with it nicely and drive into the final few hundred metres.

Bora take over now. Sagan and Kwiatkowski up there

Cortina goes!

Sagan on the wheel... 150m to go

Sagan goes now! But here's Valverde!

Valverde takes it!

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) wins stage 8 of the Vuelta a España

Wow! What a battle between Sagan and Valverde. It looked like the world champion was going to hang on but the Spaniard had enough power to come round at the last to take his second win of this Vuelta.

Stage 8 result

General Classification after stage 8

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