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Vuelta a España stage 8 - Live coverage

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Hola and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 8 of the Vuelta a España.

After two mountain stages, the Vuelta returns to a flatter terrain today for the 173km stage 8 from Santa Pola to La Manga del Mar Menor. 

As the Cyclingnews blimp takes height, the riders are gathering for the roll out under a warm summer sun. 

The riders face a 8.3km neutralised section.

As always we'll have full coverage of all the action and post-stage reaction, photos and results.

The crowds are out at the start in Santa Pola near Alicante.

On Friday Michael Storer (Team DSM) claimed victory on stage 7, triumphing alone from the breakaway after an all-action display on the first mountain stage of the race. 

Primoz Roglic kept the race lead even if he perhaps wanted to give it away to avoid the responsabilities it entails. 

The stage starts in the Valenciana region and heads south down the coast to Murcia. 

This was the roll out of Santa Pola. 

A total of 176 started the stage. 

The stage us underway after the neutralised ride out of Santa Pola. 

It is 28C out on the road, with current wind speeds of 15km/h. 

The stage looking over the beachfront, with holiday makers watching the sign-on. However there was no chance for the riders to enjoy the holiday atmosphere. 

The Bike Exchange team expect a fast and furious sprint finish and captured the atmosphere of the start in this video.

Bam! After 1km the attacks have started. 

The peloton have let the break go! 

The trio are riding at 48km/h as they try to open a gap on the peloton.

None of the the  riders upfront have been on attack in this Vuelta so far. None of them are an overall threat to Promoz Roglic's race lead and so it will be up to the sprinters' teams to lead the chase.  

After 10km the break leads by 2:20.  

As the gap nears 4:00, the Deceuninck-QuickStep team of Fabio Jakobsen have blinked and moved to the front of the peloton to lead the chase. 

The riders are near Torrevieja and the town's lagoons give a taste of what is to come at the finish when the rider race along the narrow  La Manga del Mar Menor strip. 

145km to go

Here's the first shot of the break of the day.

Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), Aritz Bagues (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Mikel Iturria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) ride through the crowds at the 2021 Vuelta a España

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The peloton can ride at a more sedate pace.

These are the jersey wearers today. 

It's 29C out on the road but Egan Bernal wanted to be cool before the start.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) still leads the overall standings despite Felix Grossschartner’s attack on the road to Balcon de Alicante. The Austrian from Bora-Hansgrohe is only 8 seconds behind but it will be difficult for him to take Roja jersey.   

Jasper Philispen (Alpecin-Fenix) swears the green jersey and has a total of 131 points, just one more than Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) is the new leader of the blue polka-dot KOM jersey after going on the attack in the mountains on stage 7. 

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) still leads the best young rider competition and so wears the white and green jersey. He leads the Under 25 competition ahead of Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), who is at 25 seconds, while Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) is third at 2:11.

Back to today's action and Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), Aritz Bagues (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Mikel Iturria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) lead by 3:45. 

Here is Sivakov talking about the weekend to come.

James Knox leads the line for Deceuninck-QuickStep

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It may have been a steady first hour but they raced at 43.3km/h. 

The Vuelta peloton rides steady behind the break

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Here's what Romain Bardet (Team DSM) had to say ahead of today's stage.

115km to go

Alpecin-Fenix, Deceuninck-QuickStep and Jumbo-Visma lead the way.

The gap to the break is coming down as the riders near the 100km to go mark. It's 2:15 now but there's still a very long way to go before the peloton thinks about making the catch.

Lefevere says Deceuninck-QuickStep have yet to reach deal with Mark Cavendish

Stage 6 winner, EF-Nippo's Magnus Cort:

100km to go

The trio in the break push on but their lead is pegged at 2:00 as Alpecin-Fenix, Deceuninck-QuickStep and Jumbo-Visma share the work on the front. 

90km to go

In the peloton Primoz Roglic enjoys some late lunch, making sure to keep fed and hydrated. 

The peloton is lined out at the moment, despite the calm ride so far. 

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) is looking for a third win today but is starting to feel the fatigue after a hard day in the mountains on Friday. 

Britain's James Knox is working a lot on the front for Deceuninck-QuickStep and Fabio Jakobsen. He's a climber and so doesn't offer a lot of slipstream for the other riders behind him.  

The peloton grab their musette and so it's a belated lunch time for them.

70km to go

The trio in the break sprint hard and fast, as do the peloton as the sprinters fight for the points.  

Aritz Bagues (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) won the sprint in the break. 

Behind it seems Arnaud Demare came from behind to beat Philipsen and Jakobsen. 

This was the intermediate sprint.

60km to go

The race is close to the coast and not far from the coast but the riders face a loop around the countryside before the dash to La Manga del Mar Menor. 

The Manga lagoon combines tourism, biodiversity, beaches and has an excellent climate. 

The 1980 Vuelta 1980 started there in 1977 Freddy Maertens won.  His victory in La Manga was the second of 13 stage victories obtained in the same edition of the race, a record that remains unbroken.

50km to go

Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), Aritz Bagues (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Mikel Iturria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) continue to work well together in their escape adventure. 

The race blasts past the La Manga golf courses, but with no time to check out the greens.   

Sadly Davide Cimolai of Israel Start-Up Nation has abandoned.

With 40km the speed is up in the peloton. The GC teams are moving up to keep their leaders' safe in the finale.

The riders can see the Menor sea lagoon and the long promontory where the stage ends.

Here we go! There's a moment of cross winds and suddenly Astana go on the attack. 

The Astana acceleration has caught the break and spat some riders out of the back. 

Ooooh. We have three groups spread down the road.

Trek-Segafredo drag one group back to the peloton as a third group of 40 riders closes in. 

Race on! 

30km to go

After a short ease ion the pace, the peloton accelerates again as they fight to hold position.

The race is inland but the speed remains high and very nervous.  

If Astana attacked in the wind near the lagoon, what will happen on the promontory narrow strip of land in the final 10km? 

Trek and Ineos are fighting for position on the front to protect their GFC leader.

Trek-Segafredo have an extra reason to win today after the team revealed that manager Luca Guercilena was fighting cancer and would take a break from management. 

Ineos are on the left of the road, Trek on the right, DSM down the middle with Groupama.

The race flips onto the main highway and now it's a blast all the way to the sweeping turn onto the promontory. 

Some riders are dropping out of the back due to the high speed. 

This is the fight for position.

The peloton is packed but spread across the highway. This is like racing at the UAE Tour.

The peloton is packed tight, shoulder to shoulder.

10km to go

The gradual sweeping curve begins and so the head wind will become a side wind. 

The road squeezes from three to two lanes wide. 

Team DSM are on the right of the road. Ineos on the left.

The race is squeezed into two lanes.

The road weaves along the promontory but heads in the same direction.  

8km

DSM are riding together for sprinter Alberto Dainese. 

Now Deceuninck move up for Jakobsen.  

The road opens to three lanes. but it will close again soon. 

5km 

The crowds make a narrow corridor of noise. 

Deceuninck have 3 riders on the front as Groupama move up for Demare.

4km to go. 

Bike Exchange try to move up Matthews.

Bora are also there.  

2.5km 

2km to go

A Burgos rider takes a flyer. 

But he is hunted down by UAE.

Last km!! 

UAE take charge but here comes Groupama.

Deceuninck are there too. Where is Jakobsen? 

Deceuninck lead it out. 

Jakobsen came out at the right time and lead it home! 

He won that well, with Dainese and Philipsen with him but unable to come past him.

Jakobsen takes some deep breaths,  that was a tense, high-speed sprint.  

Jakobsen was sixth wheel in the final curve but dived tighter on the way out and sprinted to victory. 

This is the top ten for the stage

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Results
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep 3:56:05
2Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team DSM
3Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
4Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe
5Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates
6Itamar Einhorn (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation
7Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange
9Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe
10Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis

And this is the top ten overall. 

Swipe to scroll horizontally
General classification after stage 8
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 29:14:40
2Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:08
3Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:25
4Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:36
5Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:38
6Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:41
7Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:57
8Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:59
9Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:01:06
10Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:22

This is Jakobsen's second win at the Vuelta, making his  return from injury even more significant.   

Here is the first pic of Jakobsen's win.

Florian Senechal did the final lead out for Jakobsen and also celebrated before his Deceuninck teammate hit the line.

This video shows the speed and tension of the final kilometre.

While some of the sprinters hesitate out of the final curve and had to slow after their leadout men eased up, Jakobsen took a clean line and was able to open up his sprint, accelerating past his rivals, including Philipsen and Dainese. 

LA MANGA SPAIN AUGUST 21 Fabio Jakobsen of Netherlands and Team Deceuninck QuickStep sprints to win ahead of Alberto Dainese of Italy and Team DSM and Jasper Philipsen of Belgium and Team AlpecinFenix green points jersey during the 76th Tour of Spain 2021 Stage 8 a 1737 km stage from Santa Pola to La Manga del Mar Menor lavuelta LaVuelta21 on August 21 2021 in La Manga Spain Photo by Stuart FranklinGetty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images)

LA MANGA SPAIN AUGUST 21 Fabio Jakobsen of Netherlands and Team Deceuninck QuickStep celebrates winning ahead of Alberto Dainese of Italy and Team DSM and Jasper Philipsen of Belgium and Team AlpecinFenix green points jersey during the 76th Tour of Spain 2021 Stage 8 a 1737 km stage from Santa Pola to La Manga del Mar Menor lavuelta LaVuelta21 on August 21 2021 in La Manga Spain Photo by Stuart FranklinGetty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images)

LA MANGA SPAIN AUGUST 21 Fabio Jakobsen of Netherlands and Team Deceuninck QuickStep celebrates winning ahead of Alberto Dainese of Italy and Team DSM during the 76th Tour of Spain 2021 Stage 8 a 1737 km stage from Santa Pola to La Manga del Mar Menor lavuelta LaVuelta21 on August 21 2021 in La Manga Spain Photo by Stuart FranklinGetty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images)