La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2024 Stage 8

August 24, 2024 It's a shorter day at 159KM but there is no time to relax with a steep Category 3 climb to finish the day. It took nearly 60 kilometers of attacking for the break to form and in the end, Harold Tejada of Astana, Gijs Leemreize of DSM-Firmenich, Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla, Sam Oomen of Lidl-Trek, Oier Lazkano of Movistar, Ion Izagirre of Cofidis, Mathis Le Berre of Arkéa-B&B Hotels and Luca Vergallito of Alpecin-Deceuninck were the ones to make it. Decathlon AG2R started riding at 91KM to go when the gap got out to 4 minutes 30 seconds. They got help from Israel-Premier Tech and had the break at 3 minutes 30 seconds with 35KM to go as the route passed through the endless olive groves of Jaén. Israel-Premier Tech really put the hammer down, sending the entire team to the front with eyes on the stage win. Tejada, Vergallito, and Lazkano went off together in the foot hills before the final climb to preserve as much of their advantage as possible. The three leaders hit the final 5KM climb with a 1 minute gap but the peloton was charging into the base. After the first steep ramp, there were only about twenty riders left in the GC group. Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe put in an attack with 2.5KM to go which cut the group in half. He went again, this time only Enric Mas of Movistar could follow. Tejada was the last of the break to be caught as Roglič and Mas steamed passed under the 1KM banner. Mas took the lead through the last narrow corners, trying the keep Roglič behind but the road straightened and Roglič's speed was too much. Mas did all he could but had to settle for second place. Mikel Landa of T-Rex Quickstep came in next, 14 seconds down. In the GC, Roglič had a great day, cutting the gap from Ben O'Connor down to 3 minutes 49 seconds. João Almeida started the day third in GC but finished well down on the stage and would pull out of the race before Stage 9 with illness.