The eighth stage of the Vuelta a Espana saw a second mountain showdown, but the outcome was not too different as Alpecin-Deceuninck's Jay Vine once again thrived and took his second stage win - this time from the breakaway.
The uphill start of the day with the Alto de la Colladona saw harsh attacks, with a large group going up the road early on which forced Quick-Step to push the pace hard towards the summit in order to keep the lead safe as Richard Carapaz and Alejandro Valverde were between the attackers. Eventually though, 10 riders managed to escape the pack: Alexey Lutsenko, Mads Pedersen, Mikel Landa, Thibaut Pinot, Sébastien Reichenbach, Bruno Armirail, Rein Taaramäe, Lucas Hamilton, Marc Soler and Jay Vine.
Whilst Pedersen went on to collect the points, the break was given the freedom to go for the stage win, starting the final climb with almost four minutes of lead as no-one pushed the pace to the maximum.
In the break Alexey Lutsenko attacked inside the final seven kilometers, but as soon as he did he triggered a move from Jay Vine, who went solo with six kilometers to go. Marc Soler briefly looked to be able to manage the gap, but there was no match for the Australian, who rode for the stage win with relative comfort. Soler rode into second place whilst Rein Taaramäe finished third.
In the peloton it was Quick-Step setting up the pace early in the climb, and as the riders entered the mist of Colláu Fancuaya Remco Evenepoel made a move, taking Enric Mas, Primoz Roglic and Carlos Rodríguez alongside. The Belgian rode his pace up the final climb with little interuption, and he led Mas and Roglic into the line to keep his race lead and deal damage to the GC battle behind.
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