After a tough opening week in Galicia, there was no respite on the Vuelta a Espana as the race entered the high mountains with back-to-back summit finishes over the weekend. On Saturday, Sergey Lagutin (Katusha) won from the break atop the Alto de la Camperona, while on Sunday, Carlos De La Cruz (Etixx-QuickStep) triumphed on the Alto del Naranco and took possession of the red jersey of race leader to boot.
Of the pre-race favourites, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) will arguably be most satisfied with their weekend’s work. Quintana put more than 30 seconds into teammate Alejandro Valverde and Chris Froome (Team Sky) when he attacked on the steepest section of the Camperona on stage 8, which put him into the red jersey on Saturday evening.
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Contador, meanwhile, also jumped away from Froome and Valverde near the summit, an important psychological boost after early time losses and a nasty crash had marred the first week of his Vuelta. For his part, Froome was succinct at the summit of the Camperona. “I’m surviving,” he said.
The favourites finished together on the Naranco on Sunday, with Movistar content to cede the overall lead to De La Cruz, at least for now. "Losing the jersey is not a problem at all," Valverde insisted.
Ahead of Monday’s key stage to Lagos de Covadonga, De La Cruz was 22 seconds ahead of Quintana, with Valverde 3rd at 41 seconds and Froome 4th at 49. Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) lies 5th at 1:19, while Contador remains in the hunt, albeit 2:01 off the red jersey. The mighty Lagos de Covadonga will reveal more.
- Vuelta a Espana stage 8 report
- Vuelta a Espana stage 8 highlights - video
- Vuelta a Espana stage 9 report
- Vuelta a Espana stage 9 highlights - video
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