Primoz Roglic wins Vuelta stage eight to eat into Ben O’Connor’s lead

Three-times former champion Primoz Roglic attacked on the climb to the finish to win stage eight of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, taking valuable time off Ben O’Connor’s overall lead.
Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had to work hard to shake off the Australian in the red jersey but the Slovenian’s pace finally paid off and he took his second stage win of the race.
Spain’s Enric Mas (Movistar) was beaten to the line by Roglic and had to settle for second place, with his compatriot Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) coming in third.
O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) crossed the line in 17th place, 46 seconds after Roglic who also earned a 10-second bonus. The gap to the leader is now three minutes 49 seconds.
It was expected that Roglic would attempt to make up time on O’Connor on the 159km ride from Ubeda to Cazorla, a medium mountain stage but with a sharp uphill finish, and the Slovenian showed his strength when it mattered.
“The opportunity was there, and I went for it. It was hard, hot. I was lucky, I had the legs to take it today,” Roglic said.
A trio of riders were up ahead in the closing kilometres, and behind them Roglic pushed the pace at the front of the peloton, where several riders went down in a crash.
Roglic made a few attempts to get away but O’Connor dug deep to stick with his rival’s wheel at first, but in the final two kilometres Roglic went ahead, with Mas the only one to go with him.
They overtook the riders up ahead and Mas grabbed the lead with 400 metres to go but Roglic had the stronger kick and got the win, and the all-important bonus.
Mas moved from fourth to third overall as Joao Almeida slipped down the general classification after trailing in almost five minutes behind the winner.
Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar enjoyed his first top-10 finish of the race, coming home in eighth position to continue his rise up the GC standings from 26th to 23rd. Darren Rafferty was placed 89th on the day and is 102nd overall.
Sunday’s stage nine takes the riders 178.5km from Motril to Granada, and with tougher climbs along the way, O’Connor could find his lead cut even further if Roglic attacks again before Monday’s rest day.
“I’m going every day full racing, just see how I will respond to all of this input to my body after a hard period with my injury. I still feel it, so we’ll see,” Roglic said.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024