Leipheimer and teammate Alberto Contador now lead in the overall standings, after putting in a big effort to take time from their chief rival, Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank). Sastre lost 13 seconds to Contador, who finished five seconds ahead of the Tour de France champion and gained an additional eight seconds in bonus time for taking third on the stage.

A quick start
With a late start and a short stage, the peloton had plenty of time to get ready to attack.

Stage 8 - Vuelta a Espana

With the Cat. 1 Coll del Cantó starting in the opening 15km, scores of riders tried to get away, including a move with Lampre’s Damiano Cunego and Matt Lloyd (Silence-Lotto), but Astana and Lampre chased down various moves on the lower, steeper parts of the climb.

Finally, on the upper flanks of the long, grinding Cantó climb, the day’s move was forged. Sneaking away were veteran Spanish climber Juan Manuel Garate (Quick Step), David Moncoutie (Cofidis), Sebastian Joly (FDJeux), Christophe Kern (Credit Agricole) and Nikita Eskov (Tinkoff).

It was a good group of non-threatening riders (Garate was best-placed at 25th at 9:01 back), so away they went. Garate led the way over the Cantó with a two-minute lead on the pack.

The gap hovered around five minutes as Astana and Cofidis put men on the front to keep the attackers on a relatively short leash. They hit the base of the Cat. 1 Bonaigua climb with 4:35.

Turning the screws
As expected, the Bonaigua climb (the highest point of this year’s Vuelta a 2,072m) caused some damage.

Before it even started, however, there were at least three pileups at the back of the main pack as it ramped up the speed nearing the day’s penultimate climb, including one involving Lloyd, who hit the deck pretty hard.

The speed – and the chase – increased considerably up the twisting, narrow Bonaigua climb. Half of the road was over a new, wider and smooth highway, but the upper steepest sections were over the older, rougher highway.

Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) took over the chase in the final 5km to fracture the peloton and bring the breakaway back to earth.

Astarloza – working for his younger teammate, Igor Antón – was doing some damage and spit out overnight leader Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) and Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis).

Up the road, Moncoutie followed by Joly (who survived a brush with testicular cancer last fall), were fighting the brave fight trying to fend off the ever-closing peloton up the final, sinuous switchbacks on the spectacular climb.

Moncoutie was nursing a 1:45 gap with about 2km to go when Amets Txurruka, winner of the most aggressive rider in the 2007 Tour de France, took over the chase for the ever-dwindling peloton. Chasing at 25 seconds behind Moncoutie were Joly and the remainders of the chasers.

The “Ole Moncoot” – that’s how Garmin DS and ex-teammate Matt White refers to Moncoutie – cleared over the summit alone and chased victory.

Remarkably, the Frenchman held off his pursuers – some of the world’s best riders – on the day’s final climb to the top of the Pla de Beret. Joly, who caught the cautious Moncoutie on the descent off the Bonaigua, faded quickly on the last climb.

He was caught by a hard-chasing Contador, who was joined by Valverde and Euskaltel’s Igor Anton. Moncoutie managed to hold on to a 34-second lead, though, and charged through the final two kilometers of downhill to the finish after cresting the day’s final Category 1 climb.

Valverde earned second place, edging out Contador and Anton at the line. Sastre and Leipheimer finished in a large group five seconds later. With Ballan out of contention, Leipheimer regained the jersey, with Contador sitting in second at 21 seconds.

Monday’s stage
The 63rd Vuelta continues Monday with the 208.8km ninth stage from Vielha to Sabiñánigo. The route traverses the Pyrénées as it pushes west across the southern, sun-baked flank of the mountains.

The hilly stage shouldn’t present a major problem for the main GC contenders, but provides plenty of opportunities for stage-hunters. Two second-category and one third-category climbs in the first half of the long stage should set a breakaway.

There’s the narrow and steep Cat. 1 Puerto de Serrablo, but at 66km from the finish, the climb should only be difficult for riders who are already on the ropes. The stage finishes with a 16km circuit around Sabiñánigo, hometown of retired Spanish climber Fernando Escartín.

(velodnews.com)