Stage 8

The road

At the start

López back in red by six seconds

Valverde outsprinted Roglič up the Mas de la Costa and López is back in red — six seconds ahead of the Slovenian, sixteen ahead of the world champion, twenty-seven ahead of Quintana, a top four inside half a minute. Today lets the sprinters back in: 167 kilometres across Catalunya to Igualada with a single climb, the Puerto de Montserrat, topping out twenty-seven kilometres from the line.

How it was won

1. 128 km to go

   Attacks on the Montserrat

   The twenty-man break hits the only climb of a soaking day six minutes clear; Stetina is first to chance his arm halfway up as the rain hammers down.

2. 2At the line

   Arndt survives the deluge

   After a treacherous wet descent and a flurry of doomed attacks — riders and even a camera moto sliding out on the roundabouts — it comes down to a reduced sprint that Nikias Arndt wins in Igualada.

The result