Stage 8

The road

At the start

The first big summit finish

Dan Martin does not start: the Irishman went down eleven kilometres from the line yesterday and his Vuelta is over. Nibali still leads Horner by three seconds, Roche by eight and Valverde by twenty-one. Today the race climbs Peñas Blancas above Estepona — the first mountain-top finish where a rider cannot hide behind bonus seconds.

How it was won

1. 1134 km to go

   Thirty kilometres of fighting

   Nobody gets away until fourteen riders finally do, and even then Astana keep them close — because Bartosz Huzarski is eleventh overall, within a minute of the red jersey. Only when he drops back does Nibali's team let the escape breathe.

2. 220 km to go

   RadioShack take the front

   Sixty kilometres of steady chipping have brought the lead to 2:12 with twenty to go, and Cannondale trim it further for Basso. On the approach to Peñas Blancas, RadioShack take over the pace-making — a statement of intent for Chris Horner.

3. 35 km to go

   Antón goes at 4.7 kilometres

   The Basque climber zips clear of the red jersey group and has fifteen seconds almost at once. On a mountain above the Costa del Sol it is exactly the kind of move that never quite survives the counters.

4. 43 km to go

   Horner's surge, and a pause

   Capecchi goes first, but it is the American's acceleration that hurts — Samuel Sánchez among those spat out the back of it. Then the favourites look at each other and regroup, and Antón still has nine seconds at the two-kilometre banner.

5. 5At the line

   König at the kilometre banner

   The Czech attacks into the pause, is caught by Basso, Moreno and Roche in the penultimate kilometre, and simply goes again at the red kite. He reels in the fading Antón and gives NetApp-Endura, a Pro Continental team, their first Grand Tour stage. Valverde, Rodríguez and Nibali never chase — they are already thinking about Monday.

The result