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La Vuelta Ciclista a España. Stage 8. Peloton survives on hot day
It was a very hot day at the Vuelta a España and many riders just had to survive and to finish safety this stage 8 to Almadén. For Astana Pro Team the first goal was to protect Miguel Angel Lopez, and everything went quite perfectly.
- Indeed, in this stage we did not have big ambitions as our main goal was to protect Miguel Angel, to keep him far from the troubles and to finish safety. So, in this matter, we did it as we planned. In the final there was an idea to try something with Omar Fraile, but he really suffered from the heat and it was impossible for him to do a good sprint. Tomorrow is important day, let’s see, what will happen on the last climb of the stage, - explained sports director Dmitri Sedoun.
Stage 8 of the race (Linares – Almadén, 195,1 km) was impacted by high temperatures over 400C. Three riders went away in the first kilometers, taking a solid gap over 11 minutes. But, the peloton controlled everything perfectly and in the last kilometers the breakaway was neutralized. In the uphill bunch sprint it was the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, who took the win over Peter Sagan.
There were not any changes in the general classification: Rudy Molard still leads the race, Miguel Angel Lopez is on the same 12th position (+1.27). Astana still leads the team’s classification.
Stage 9 of the Vuelta a España will bring the peloton back in the mountains: it will be a 200,8-km-long distance from Talavera de la Reina to the top of the top of the famous climb La Covatilla.
Photo credit: ©Bettiniphoto
