Vuelta a Espana, stage 8 summary

Stage 8 : Aug 25, Lleida - Andorra (Collada de la Gallina), 174.7 km

1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 4.06.39
2 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank
4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0.15
5 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team 0.23
6 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team 0.33
7 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
8 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre - ISD 0.39
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
10 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre - ISD 0.42


Changes in GC, stage 8 compared to stage 7 :

Biggest gainers by position :
+46 Cameron Meyer
+41 Javier Ramirez Abeja
+38 Nico Sijmens
+36 Jose Vicente Toribio Alcolea
+35 Christophe Riblon
+34 Martijn Keizer
+31 Arnold Jeannesson
+26 Mikel Landa Meana
+25 CARRASCO GARCIA Sergio
+23 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez

Biggest losers by position :
-24 Assan Bazayev
-23 Alexsandr Dyachenko
-23 Arnaud Courteille
-22 Daniele Bennati
-20 Daniele Ratto
-19 Damiano Cunego
-19 Dennis van Winden
-19 Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez
-18 Gatis Smukulis
-18 Jesus Rosendo Prado
-18 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo

Biggest gainers by time :
+0:04 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte

Biggest losers by time :
-23:34 Nacer Bouhanni
-23:21 Cheng Ji
-22:25 Dennis van Winden
-22:19 Assan Bazayev
-22:19 Daniele Bennati
-22:18 Aitor Galdos Alonso
-21:41 Daniele Ratto
-21:18 Joost van Leijen
-21:16 Juan Lobato Del Valle
-21:16 Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez
-21:14 Maciej Bodnar

Favourites by position :
+46 Cameron Meyer
+9 John Gadret
+1 Maxime Monfort
-1 Robert Gesink
-1 Denis Menchov
-3 Jurgen Van Den Broeck
-3 Bauke Mollema
-4 Tony Martin
-16 Rigoberto Uran
-17 Thomas De Gendt
-18 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo
-19 Damiano Cunego

Favourites by time :
-0:04 Alberto Contador Velasco
-0:23 Christopher Froome
-0:47 Robert Gesink
-1:38 Maxime Monfort
-1:41 Cameron Meyer
-1:55 Bauke Mollema
-3:14 John Gadret
-5:26 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo
-6:11 Rigoberto Uran
-13:46 Denis Menchov
-14:57 Tony Martin
-14:57 Jurgen Van Den Broeck
-16:34 Damiano Cunego
-19:50 Thomas De Gendt

Top 10 and favourites GC standings (previous stage in parens) :
1 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver 29:59:35 (unchanged)
2 Christopher Froome 0:33 (was 2nd at 0:10)
3 Alberto Contador Velasco 0:40 (was 3rd at 0:36)
4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0:50 (was 5th at 0:54)
5 Robert Gesink 1:41 (was 4th at 0:54)
6 Daniel Moreno Fernandez 1:48 (was 8th at 1:17)
7 Nicolas Roche 2:14 (was 6th at 1:04)
8 Igor Anton Hernandez 2:47 (was 14th at 2:06)
9 Laurens ten Dam 2:58 (was 11th at 1:45)
10 Bauke Mollema 3:07 (was 7th at 1:12)
.....
19 Maxime Monfort 4:12 (was 20th at 2:34)
.....
27 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo 7:00 (was 9th at 1:34)
.....
31 Rigoberto Uran 8:20 (was 15th at 2:09)
.....
49 John Gadret 20:26 (was 58th at 17:12)
.....
53 Damiano Cunego 24:10 (was 34th at 7:36)
.....
63 Denis Menchov 31:42 (was 62nd at 17:56)
64 Jurgen Van Den Broeck 32:51 (was 61st at 17:54)
.....
66 Thomas De Gendt 33:13 (was 49th at 13:23)
.....
90 Tony Martin 41:57 (was 86th at 27:00)
.....
95 Cameron Meyer 43:49 (was 141st at 42:08)

Top 10 on Points table with previous in parens:
1 John Degenkolb 76 (unchanged)
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 66 (was 5th with 41 points)
3 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver 65 (was 3rd with 45 points)
4 Christopher Froome 51 (was 7th with 37 points)
5 Elia Viviani 47 (was 2nd with 47 points)
6 Alberto Contador Velasco 46 (was 10th with 30 points)
7 Allan Davis 45 (was 4th with 45 points)
8 Daniele Bennati 38 (was 6th with 38 points)
9 Gianni Meersman 34 (was 8th with 34 points)
10 Simon Clarke 30 (was 9th with 30 points)

Top 10 on Mountains table with previous in parens:
1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 21 (was 2nd with 11 points)
2 Simon Clarke 16 (was 1st with 16 points)
3 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver 15 (was 5th with 9 points)
4 Pim Ligthart 11 (was 3rd with 11 points)
5 Luis Angel Mate Mardones 10 (was 4th with 10 points)
6 Alberto Contador Velasco 8 (was 10th with 4 points)
7 Tony Martin 8 (was 6th with 8 points)
8 Christopher Froome 6 (was 9th with 4 points)
9 Philippe Gilbert 6 (was 7th with 6 points)
10 Javier Ramirez Abeja 5 (was 0 points)

Retirements to date : Stage
Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Argos-Shimano 8
Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 8
David Boucher (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 4
Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Pro Team Astana 1
Total retirements : 4


(This report and archives etc can be seen at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rvmartin2)

On 25/08/2012 20:20, Bob Martin wrote:

Stage 8 : Aug 25, Lleida - Andorra (Collada de la Gallina), 174.7 km

1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 4.06.39
2 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank
4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0.15


Great show boys, keep it up, class A entertainment, my money is still on Bertie
Clensteakador for the final GC.
--