Stage 8

The road

At the start

Sky go home, and the Catí waits

Team Sky are not on the start line: six riders withdrawn in one morning, after a week of illness that had already forced Flecha out and the death of one of the team's soigneurs yesterday. Philippe Gilbert still leads by ten seconds from Antón and Rodríguez, and the first of four consecutive mountain days ends on the Alto Xorret del Catí — four kilometres averaging twelve per cent, the line three past the summit.

How it was won

1. 1167 km to go

   Moncoutié tries twice

   On the third-category Puerto de Onil David Moncoutié goes with Pujol and Serafín Martínez and is pulled back on the descent. So he goes again, and this time it sticks: five riders, with Tschopp, Arrieta and Bazayev.

2. 294 km to go

   Five clear over the Tudons

   Martínez outsprints Moncoutié at every summit for the mountains jersey while the five build a lead a tranquil peloton has no interest in. Moncoutié is the best placed of them, nearly fourteen minutes down, so nobody moves.

3. 350 km to go

   Seven forty, and a chase that dies

   Cervélo, with Philip Deignan doing the work, take almost four minutes out of the break inside twenty kilometres. Then nobody else will come through, the pursuit peters out, and the five reach the final climb with four minutes in hand.

4. 44 km to go

   Onto the Xorret de Catí

   Four kilometres with pitches of twelve per cent. Arrieta drills it at the bottom to try to break his companions and only breaks Bazayev and Martínez; then Moncoutié takes over on the steepest part and edges away, and when Tschopp lets his wheel go 1,500 metres from the top there is only one winner.

5. 52 km to go

   The red jersey comes apart behind

   Zaugg's pace for Liquigas, then Urán's acceleration, then Sastre attacking just before the steepest ramp. When Sastre is caught, Rodríguez leaps and brings a smooth-pedalling Nibali with him; twice the Spaniard tries to drop the Italian and twice Nibali simply stays there. Somewhere below them Philippe Gilbert's Vuelta lead is sliding away down the mountain.

6. 6At the line

   Moncoutié, three years running

   Moncoutié plunges the last three kilometres to win by 54 seconds, a third Vuelta stage in three seasons. Rodríguez wins the sprint for fifth at 1:29 and thinks he has the jersey; the judges give Antón the same time, and the Basque takes red by a hair. Gilbert loses 3:30 and hands it over.

The result