Sep Kuss and Primoz Roglic of the Jumbo-Visma squad ruled Stage 8 of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, taming the brutal slopes of Xorret de Cati. Roglic sprinted to his 11th stage victory in the Spanish Grand Tour, ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates). Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) cracked on the final climb while Sepp Kuss stayed with the best GC contenders to take over La Roja. The American climber is the first rider from the USA to lead a Grand Tour since Chris Horner won La Vuelta in 2013. The French wonderkid retains the white jersey as the best young rider in the race.
De Gendt Leads a Hard Battle for the Break
After 35km of battle, thirty riders were able to make a successful break. Soon after, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Dstny) attacked the break to lead the way over the next two climbs, the cat-3 Puerto de Tollos (km 49.4) and the cat-2 Puerto de Benifallim (km 81.7).
Jumbo-Visma Stays in Control
Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma) collaborated with Groupama-FDJ to keep the gap between 4 and 5 minutes. The main GC threats at the front were Cristian Rodriguez (Arkea Samsic, +4’01’’), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious, +9’39’’) and Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich, +13’58’’).
Five riders get got on the chase to reel in De Gendt into the last 80 kilometres: Cristian Rodriguez, with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Javier Romo (Astana Qazaqstan), and De Gendt was soon dropped.
The attackers got back together on the following ascent, the cat-2 Puerto de la Carrasqueta (km 110.2). Attacks keep flying while the peloton control the gap at around 3 minutes.
Kuss Attacks, Roglic Wins
Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team) led the way towards the main climb of the day, the cat-1 ascent up Xorret de Cati. The chasers were caught and the gap was down to 35’’ at the bottom (7.2km to go).
Soudal Quick-Step upped the ante caught the attackers with 5 kilometres to go. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) attacks, Remco Evenepoel controls and eight riders summit the ascent together: Evenepoel, Roglic, Kuss, Vingegaard, Mas, Ayuso, Almeida and Soler.
The Belgian star opens up the sprint. But Roglic powers to his 11th La Vuelta stage win while Sepp Kuss conquers La Roja. Lenny Martinez loses 1’10’’ (13th) on the line.
Stage 8 Brief Results:
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) @ 4h 13′ 52″
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) s.t.
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) s.t
- Enric Mas (Movistar Team) @ 2″
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) @ 2″
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) @ 2″
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) @ 2″
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) @ 2″
- Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) @ 34″
- Alekasndr Vlasov (Bora Hanshgrohe) @ 39″
General Classification After Stage 8:
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) @ 30h 51′ 06″
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) @ 43″
- Lenny Martinesz (Groupama – FDJ) @ 1′ 00″
- Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) @ 2′ 05”
- Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) @ 2’29”
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