Stage 8 of the Vuelta a España had but one climb, but with pitches up to 20 per cent, it the Alto de la Camperona proved to be quite difficult enough. The peloton let the breakaway fight for the stage win, and Katusha's Sergey Lagutin paced himself perfectly to take the win over Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale).
But all eyes were on the GC battles behind, and it was Movistar who proved the strongest, with Nairo Quintana dancing away from his rivals to take over the race lead from BMC's Darwin Atapuma.
Alberto Contador found his second wind, however, and jumped away to nab a few seconds back from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Chris Froome (Sky), who now sit second and third overall, respectively.
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