Valverde beats Sagan to take Vuelta stage 8 and reduce Molard’s lead

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Alejandro Valverde wins stage 8 vuelta 2018

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) beat Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) in an uphill sprint to claim his second win of this Vuelta a Espana on Saturday.

Valverde, who is second overall, closed to within 37 seconds of leader Rudy Molard thanks to the 10-second bonus he was awarded for claiming Stage 8.

The 38-year-old Movistar rider surged past Sagan over the final short climb to finish the mostly flat 195-kilometer ride from Linares to Almaden in 4 1/2 hours.

”(I’m) older in years, yes, but not in my physical or mental fitness,” Valverde said. ”My goal was not to lose time today, but I got on his wheel and was able to overtake him.”

Molard (Groupama-FDJ) kept the overall lead for a fourth consecutive day.

Tiago Machado, Jorge Cubero and Hector Saez got out on a breakaway and led by 12 minutes before being reeled in with six kilometers left.

The mostly uneventful ”transition” stage through dry fields dotted with olive trees moved the race towards the mountains of the north in the final two weeks.

After easily holding his lead on the flats of Spain’s southern region, Molard should have more difficulty when the race faces its first serious mountain test on Sunday.

Among the title favorites, Simon Yates is fourth at :51 seconds back, Michal Kwiatkowski is sixth at 1:06 behind, and Nairo Quintana is eighth at 1:14 behind.

Stage nine is a 201-kilometer leg starting in Talavera that crests three categorized climbs before finishing atop the beyond-category La Covetilla summit.

”Tomorrow is a mountain, mountain stage,” Valverde said. ”We will really see who has options of making the podium for this Vuelta.”

Vuelta a Espana 2018 – stage 8 results (Linares – Almadén):

1Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

4:35:54

2Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)

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3Danny von Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo)

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4Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida)

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5Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo)

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6Jesus Herrada (Cofidis)

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7Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

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8Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal)

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9Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida)

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10Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo)

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11Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac)

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12Dylan Teuns (BMC)

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13Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal)

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14Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky)

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15Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida)

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16George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo)

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17Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb)

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18Nick Schultz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)

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19Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo)

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20Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe)

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General classification after stage 8:

1Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ)

31:20:34

2Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

+37”

3Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe)

+48”

4Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

+51”

5Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale)

+59”

6Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky)

+01’06”

7Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida)

+01’11”

8Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

+01’14”

9Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo)

+01’18”

10Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors)

+01’23”

11George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo)

+01’26”

12Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana)

+01’27”

13Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates)

+01’28”

14Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac)

+01’29”

15David De La Cruz (Team Sky)

+01’34”

16Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors)

+01’46”

17Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb)

+02’50”

18Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)

+03’08”

19Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott)

+03’25”

20Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe)

+03’56”

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