Jasper Stuyven of Belgium claimed the biggest victory of his career when the Trek Factory Racing rider won a crash-marred eighth stage of the Vuelta on Saturday.
Spain’s Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural) took second place ahead of Frenchman Kevin Reza (FDJ) in a sprint finish after 182.5 km between Puebla de Don Fabrique and Murcia.
Colombian Esteban Chaves of Orica-GreenEDGE retained the overall leader’s red jersey, fighting his way back into the main pack after being caught on the wrong end of a split following a big pile-up with some 50 km left.
American Tejay van Garderen was the biggest casualty, pulling out with a suspected collarbone fracture.
The BMC Racing rider had been hoping to achieve a good grand tour performance after abandoning the Tour de France, where he had been targeting a podium finish, because of illness.
Also involved in the crash was Ireland’s Dan Martin (Cannondale Garmin), who pulled out after starting the day in third position overall.
Top French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) also withdrew after being caught up in the crash while Belgian Kris Boeckmans (Lotto Soudal) was taken to hospital. His team said he was conscious.
Slovakian Peter Sagan, one of the favourites for the stage win, was brought down by one of the organisers’ motorbikes with less than 10 km left and finished way behind the peloton.
The Tinkoff-Saxo rider reacted angrily, kicking his bike and a motorbike.
Pre-race favourite Chris Froome of Britain finished with the top guns, despite being briefly dropped during a descent, the day after losing half a minute to his main rivals. (Writing by Julien Pretot in Paris, editing by Clare Fallon)
Stage 8 Brief Results:
- Jasper Stuyven (Belgium / Trek) 4:06:05″
- Pello Bilbao (Spain / Caja Rural) ST
- Kevin Reza (France / FDJ)
- Giovanni Visconti (Italy / Movistar)
- Kristian Sbaragli (Italy / Team MTN)
- Tosh Van der Sande (Belgium / Lotto)
- Julien Simon (France / Cofidis)
- Pieter Serry (Belgium / Etixx – Quick-Step)
- Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spain / Movistar)
- Nicolas Roche (Ireland / Team Sky)
General Classification After Stage 8:
- Esteban Chaves (Colombia / Orica) 31:12:18″
- Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands / Giant) +10″
- Nicolas Roche (Ireland / Team Sky) +36″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +49″
- Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain / Katusha) +56″
- Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar) +57″
- Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana)
- Daniel Moreno (Spain / Katusha) +1:18″
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R) +1:19″
- Mikel Nieve (Spain / Team Sky) +1:21″
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