Philipsen wins messy sprint to double up at Vuelta a España

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won stage 8 of the Vuelta a España, beating Elia Viviani (Lotto) to the line in a frantic bunch sprint in Zaragoza.

Viviani, who is chasing his first Grand Tour stage victory since 2019, was well teed up by his Lotto team, and he looked on the cusp of victory, but Philipsen managed to pick his way between the Italian and the barriers to claim his second victory of this Vuelta.

An hour after the stage, the commissaires would rule that Viviani had veered from his line in the sprint, and the Italian was relegated to 105th. It means that Ethan Vernon (Israel Premier Tech) took second ahead of Arne Marit (Intermarché-Wanty) and Anders Foldager (Jayco-Alula). Green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) surprisingly failed to make an impact in the sprint, and the Dane came home in ninth place after Viviani and Bryan Coquard (sixth across the line) were relegated to the back of the front group.

The day was always liable to end in a bunch sprint, and the wide roads made for a scramble for positions in the final kilometre. Philipsen showed considerable nous to pick his way through the chaos and find a pathway to victory along the barriers.

Viviani was in front at that point, and although he was deviating slightly from his line, he corrected his position to avoid clashing with Philipsen, and the Belgian gratefully seized the opportunity to clock up the 15th Grand Tour win of his career.

Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall lead ahead of Sunday’s mountain stage to Valdezcaray. The Norwegian is 2:33 clear of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and 2:41 up on João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Sprint opportunities have been at a premium on this Vuelta, and the fast men were never going to let the chance pass them by in Zaragoza after the flat 163.5km run from Monzón Templario. Despite the slim odds of success, a group of three riders slipped clear in the opening kilometres, eager to tilt against the windmill for the afternoon in Aragon.

Joan Bou (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Sergio Samitier (Cofidis) and José Luis Faura (Burgos Burpellet BH) struck up a solid working alliance, and the trio built a maximum lead just shy of four minutes over the peloton.

That status quo remained in place for much of the afternoon, and the stage to Zaragoza offered a rare moment of respite amid the mountain stages in the final part of the opening week of this Vuelta.

Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck and red jersey Torstein Træen’s Bahrain Victorious team did the bulk of the policing in the bunch, and the break’s advantage duly contracted as the kilometres ticked down towards Zaragoza.

The race crossed the finishing line for the first time with 23km to go, by which point the gap was down to 30 seconds. It was notable that Visma | Lease a Bike were now occupying prime real estate at the front, eager to keep Jonas Vingegaard out of trouble on the finishing circuit in Zaragoza.

Samitier and Bou were swept up by the bunch with 17km to go, and from there, the race was a frantic battle for position all the way to the safety zone with 5km remaining.

A day after winning atop Cerler, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) surprisingly sat up on the short climb on the finishing circuit with 10km to go, perhaps with an eye to another breakaway raid on Sunday.