2018 Vuelta a Espana - Stage 8

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Things are starting to get interesting as the Vuelta moves into its second week with stage 8 having riders travel from Linares to Almaden. Spain's very own Alejandro Valverde of Movistar took his second stage victory to beat Peter Sagan of Bora-Hansgrohe in a dramatic uphill sprint into Almaden. Valverde has positioned himself second in the overall classification, and with this stage win cuts the lead to Rudy Molard of Groupama-FDJin to only 37 seconds.

Link to stage eight route map

A majority of the stage would be considered as a rolling stage, but all riders would be thinking about the final 5km of the day where they would face an uphill finish to the stage. The first break of the stage happened just a few kilometers into the day, with only three riders in the break, the peloton allowed them to push the pace which eventually extended to more than 12 minutes. It was not until the finial 6km of the stage that the final rider of the break was caught by the peloton.

Although the finish consisted of a steep gradient, it also has a complicated mixes of turns and switchback, with LottoNL and Bora setting their main sprinters up in the final part of the stage. Ivan Garcia Cortina of Bahrain-Merida made a break for the finish line with 300m to go, Sagan followed and had little trouble bridging the gap, but it seemed too early as Valverde made a late charge, but was able to finish strongest taking the finish line on the day.

Overall classification after stage Six

Rudy Molard of Groupama-FDJ held onto the Red Leaders Jersey but with a reduced lead of 37 seconds to Alejandro Valverde. It will be interesting to see how Valverde will continue over the next week. I am sure Spain will be cheering on their main contendor, while Groupama-FDJ will need to respond to keep their man Rudy Molard in the lead.

1. Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJin 31 hours 20 minutes 34 seconds
2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 37 seconds
3. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe at 48 seconds

Tomorrow - Stage 9 Start From Talavera de la Reina to La Covatilla

Stage 9 of this years Vuelta a Espana is a 200km ride from Talavera de la Reina to La Covatilla, with some tough hill climbs, this stage will be almost uphill and I am sure all the teams will be looking forward to the rest day they have after this stage.

Link to stage nine route map

Riders will have a rolling, undulating road for the first 35km until they reach the base of the first major climb of the day, a 15.3km ride up Puerto del Pico, which will see the riders climb at an average gradient of 5.6%. Things will ease off a little until they then have to face Puerto de Pena Negra, which is a further 13km climb at 4.5% gradient, taking them to a height of 1,900 meters.

Riders will get a 15km downhill section which will take then just past the half way mark of the stage until they come into the final climb of the day. The final 24km of the stage will see riders make the climb to La Covatilla. The climb will be in two sections where they first 9km will see riders climbing between 3% and 8% gradient giving everyone a chance to be ready for the final part of the stage. After a short descent the final climb of 12km starts, taking riders to 2,000 meters at the finish line with a gradient of 6.5%.

I'll be covering each stage of the Vuelta A Espana, giving a breakdown of each days stage, my previous post for @cyclefeed were the results of stage seven of this years Vuelta, so feel free to have a look:
https://steemit.com/cycling/@run.vince.run/2018-vuelta-a-espana-stage-7

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