Vuelta a Espana 2013 - Stage 8

The Vuelta a Espana returned to the mountains today with an 166.6 kilometre stage from Jerez de la Frontera to Alto de Penas Blancas. It was a summit finish, but described by pre-race favourite Joaquim Rodriguez as "not very hard," and this was perhaps accentuated by the fact that none of the pre-race favourites bothered to come and ride the climb for reconnaissance. 

A break of 14 formed after some jostling, and it included the likes of Dario Cataldo (Sky) and Benat Inxausti (Movistar). However, there was soon an issue as Bartosz Huzarski was only 45 seconds down on the general classification, meaning Astana were not letting the break go. After some discussion he was persuaded to re-join the peloton, and let the breakaway continue their efforts.

Different teams set the pace throughout the stage, noted teams were that of race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Cannondale, the team of double Giro d'Italia champion and Tour de France runner-up Ivan Basso. As the race started to hit the climb proper, it was three men from the original breakaway who continued on, they were Dario Cataldo (Sky Procycling), Dominik Nerz (BMC Racing) and Rafael Valls (Vacansoleil-DCM).

RadioShack were then seen driving the pace in aid of Chris Horner, who had openly stated his desire to regain the red jersey of race leader. The pace was mainly under the impetus of Fabian Cancellara and Matthew Busche. With 5 kilometres to, the remnants of the original breakaway were brought back, and then a kilometre later Igor Anton of Euskaltel-Euskadi squad made a strong move. 

He initially gained over twenty seconds, but with three and a half kilometres to go the front group really started to disintegrate, under the onus of an attack from Eros Capecchi, a teammate of Alejandro Valverde. Leopold Konig (NetApp-Endura) then made a jump to catch Anton, and soon looked good. A group broke off the front of the peloton too containing Basso, Roche, Moreno and a couple of others.

It looked to be close but it was Konig who rode away from Moreno and Roche in the end to gain NetApp-Endura's first stage win at the Vuelta a Espana, justifying their wildcard invitation. However, Nicolas Roche's ride meant that he took the race lead off of Vincenzo Nibali, this the day after his cousin Dan Martin had to abandon the race due to a crash. Roche now leads the race from Chris Horner and Daniel Moreno who both sit at 17 seconds, Vincenzo Nibali is at 18.

Onwards with the Vuelta, there are more mountains tomorrow, and an uphill finish too!