Vuelta a España: Fabio Jakobsen wins stage 8 sprint at La Manga del Mar Menor

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Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took his second victory of the Vuelta a España, sprinting from the front to take victory on stage 8 in La Manga del Mar Menor.

The Dutchman beat Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) to the finish to follow up his stage 4 win in Molina de Aragón. He took a clear victory after sprinting from eighth wheel in the peloton, jumping from behind green jersey Philipsen to hit clear air at just inside 200 metres to go.

"It's very special to be here again. The team did a perfect job," Jakobsen said after the finish. "They kept the speed high and even though I lost them a little bit I was still in a good position. I launched my sprint just in the corner at 200 to go and I was the fastest, I think.

"It was about being strong, fast, and it's about timing, I think. In a finish like this you need to be on time. I've been twice too late and this time I was perfectly right, and I could do a full sprint to the line.

"It means that – two years ago I won twice. I'm just extremely happy and grateful to be here. I'd like to thank the team again. [Team boss] Patrick Lefevere is here today and I'm sure he's happy. This is what we'll keep on doing – try to win sprints."

Jakobsen's teammate Florian Sénéchal had made it to the front of the peloton at the vital moment after a disorganised run-in which saw multiple teams battle at the front. When the Frenchman pulled off, his teammate found a space through the middle and went for it.

He passed Philipsen first and then eased past the group of sprinters behind Sénéchal who had been left in the wind too early – Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates), and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) among them.

Jakobsen had Dainese and Philipsen glued to his wheel as he cut through the middle, but neither man could match his pace and couldn't come alongside him, never mind any thoughts of passing. In the end, it was a battle for the minor places behind the 24-year-old, who could celebrate as he crossed the line. 

Jakobsen now holds the lead in the points classification on 180 points, with Philipsen lying second on 164 and Dainese a distant third on 73 points.

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) finished safely in the peloton to continue in the race lead. The Slovenian enjoys an advantage of eight seconds on Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) heading into Sunday's summit finish at the Alto de Velefique.

How it unfolded

The eighth stage of the 2021 Vuelta a España was another chance for the sprinters to contest victory, another largely pan-flat day as the riders raced 173.7 kilometres from Santa Pola south along the Balearic Coast to La Manga del Mar Menor.

With no classified climbs on the day's route, there was little to fight about for any potential breakaway, with just an intermediate sprint at 104.5 kilometres available for riders to contest.

Three riders attacked very soon after the flag dropped to start the stage, with Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), Aritz Bagües (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Mikel Iturria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) getting away quickly to each make their first break of the Vuelta.

The Basque trio built a lead swiftly, getting 2:20 after 10 kilometres of racing and four minutes shortly after as the peloton knocked off the pace. Led by Alpecin-Fenix, Deceuninck-QuickStep and Jumbo-Visma, the peloton locked the gap in at around that mark until the pace went up somewhat as the riders approached the 100-kilometre to go mark.

There, with two men from Alpecin-Fenix on the front, the gap had come down to 2:15, though there was still a long way to go until the peloton would make the final catch ahead of an anticipated sprint finish in La Manga del Mar Menor.

At the intermediate sprint, the gap had come down further to 1:30. There, it was Bagües who led the way in the break ahead of Iturria and Okamika. Back in the peloton it was green jersey Jasper Philipsen who won the sprint for fourth and 13 points ahead of Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ).

There was very little action to talk of following the intermediate sprint, with the same group of teams controlling the peloton over the lumpier roads that followed as the breakaway continued onwards at 1:20 up the road.

By the 40-kilometre to go mark, that gap was down under a minute as the pace upped in the Alpecin-Fenix-controlled peloton. The break's time out front was numbered by that point, and they were duly brought back at 37 kilometres to go, swept up by the peloton which was lined out under the high pace.

The threat of crosswinds didn't provoke any major splits in the peloton despite the best efforts of Astana-Premier Tech and Movistar on the front, though things were still nervy in the peloton as they flew along on the way to the finish.

Heading into the final 20 kilometres, GC teams such as Ineos Grenadiers, Bahrain Victorious and Movistar mingled at the front alongside the sprint squads of Groupama-FDJ and Deceuninck-QuickStep.

The work and high pace continued as the riders hit the final 10 kilometres, and there was little incident to report on the wide roads on the run-in. At that point, the GC teams were still in charge, keeping their men safe before the three-kilometre mark.

The sprint squads of Alpecin-Fenix, Team DSM, Groupama-FDJ, and Deceuninck-QuickStep moved up with seven kilometres to go as the riders sped towards the finish, with the latter two squads most prominent on the front.

At three kilometres to go, Team BikeExchange and Bora-Hansgrohe had also moved up, with the German team joining Groupama-FDJ lining up at the front. A kilometre later, Carlos Canal (Burgos-BH) tried a flier but was caught after 500 metres, with UAE Team Emirates taking over the pacemaking heading into the final kilometre.

Deceuninck-QuickStep's Florian Sénéchal took charge heading into the final few hundred metres, leaving it all on the road before pulling off early on the short finishing straight. His move left a number of sprinters going earlier than they'd like to, while Jakobsen could jump through the middle and push on to victory with little challenge from behind.