Vuelta a España stage 8: Primož Roglič wins atop Alto de Moncalvillo

Primož Roglič (Jumbo Visma) launched the winning attack with 800 meters to go — dropping Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and the other GC favorites — on the brutally steep final climb on stage 8 of the 2020 Vuelta a España.

“I always like to win, if there is a small opportunity I take it. It was super hard today and luckily I had to legs. It’s nice to get some time back but most of it it’s nice to win the race,” Roglič said.

This is Roglič’s 44th professional career win since 2016.

Ineos Grenadiers expended a lot of effort — and riders — in the first half of the stage to keep Richard Carapaz protected.

Roglič had not previously ridden the final climb, and raced by feel, distancing his rivals.

“I did the climb for the first time, I didn’t know it, just what I saw on profile. It was a good opportunity if you want to win, it was more going with the feeling than saying I would go.”

Movistar did the pace-setting through the first 4km on the second climb up to Alto de Moncalvillo. This proved to be disastrous to the teams’s GC hopeful Enric Mas, as he could not hold the wheels of Roglič and Carapaz on the stage finale.

Carapaz was respectful of his biggest challenger saying, “There was a lot of movement today, and Roglič was very strong today, but we are still in the fight. It was a mano-a-mano very beautiful, and that only motivates me, because it makes it even more interesting for the fans and even for us. We have a few days pretty quiet, but you never know what surprises the race can throw up.”

With the stage win and time bonus, Roglič is just 13 seconds back of Carapaz, slotting into second place overall. Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) moves into third, while Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) is now in fourth, and Mas is in fifth. Mas now wears the white jersey of best young rider.

How stage 8 unfolded

A seven-man break of Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Stan Dewulf (Lotto-Soudal), Julien Simon (Total Direct Énergie), Angel Madrazo (Burgos BH), Robert Stannard (Mitchelton-Scott), Remi Cavagna (EF Pro Cycling), Benjamin Dyball (NTT Pro Cycling) escaped, and got a maximum advantage of nearly 5:00 with 90 kilometers remaining of racing.

Costa was the best-placed and most experienced rider in this group and took leadership duties. This is Dewulf’s second consecutive day in the break.

Ineos Grenadiers — again lead by Chris Froome and Cam Wurf — lead the main group, taking Movistar and EF Pro Cycling along to bring back the bunch ahead.

At 60km, Jhojan García (Caja Rural) went off the front of the peloton and got nearly two minutes away, but was caught in no-mans-land three minutes back of the group with Costa in it.

With 45km to go, Ineos ceded the lead and Movistar aggressively took over at the front of the peloton.

The Spanish team brought the gap to just under a minute with 30km remaining.

As the race moved toward the decisive climb, the gap was further cut to just 30 seconds over the next 10km.

Five of seven men were absorbed just after the start of the final climb, with only Dewulf and Dyball fighting to stay out until 7.6km to go.

Movistar continued to push hard into the final 8km, and it was Valverde to attack first, with 6.5km to go.

His move was quickly neutralized — with effort — by Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma) and Andrey Amador (Ineos Grenadiers). Gesink’s day was done, and he was shed at 5km to go.

Michael Woods brought Hugh Carthy (both EF Pro Cycling) to front, with Carapaz and Kuss along for the ride.

GC favorites Marc Soler (Movistar) and Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) could not sustain the pace at 4km to go and were dropped.

Into the steepest pitches, the attacks came fast, and furiously.

Carthy attacked at 3.5km to go but was marked by Kuss. They were able to get some distance on Carapaz, Martin, and Roglič, while Esteban Chaves fell off this group.

Kuss countered one kilometer later, with Carapaz and Roglič in tow. This move distanced Enric Mas (Movistar) on the steepest part of the climb.

Carthy, Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana), Roglič, Carapaz, and Martin attacked as a group at 1.8km to go but it was Vlasov who got out and looked to be getting away.

Kuss and Mas clawed back into the group with Carthy, as Vlasov extended his lead.

Roglič attacked at 1.1km to go and connected with Vlasov, while Martin and Carapaz fought back on, marking the Jumbo-Visma captain.

But it was Roglič who went at 600m to go, dropping Carapaz, and the Canadian Carthy, as he nearly rode out of sight on the steepest slants of the final twisting route.