Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen sprinted to victory in stage eight of the Vuelta a España, edging Elia Viviani and Ethan Vernon in a photo-finish as Torstein Træen retained the red jersey.
Viviani’s Lotto teammates tried to lead him out in the last 1,000m of the 163km flat ride from Monzón to Zaragoza, but Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Philipsen, who had also won the first stage, pushed in the final moments to steal the victory.
A breakaway made up of Sergio Samitier, Joan Bou and José Luis Faura established a four-minute lead in the first 20km but were reeled in with 17km to go to set up a sprint finish.
The Norwegian Træen (Bahrain Victorious) remains 2min 33sec ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the general classification, with 13 stages remaining.
Philipsen, a former Tour de France points classification winner, said he lost contact with his leadout in the final kilometre. “I had to find my way, take a bit of extra wind, and really come late because my legs were concrete,” he said. “But I just managed to win, so I’m really happy, and the effort of the team has not been for nothing.
“Every Grand Tour win is always a special one, and it’s never easy. You suffer a lot of days in the mountains to get here. From now on it’s going to be a tough Vuelta, but with the win, that always makes it a bit more easy.”
Philipsen’s 15th Grand Tour stage win closed the gap on points classification leader Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) to 12 points. Britain’s Oliver Knight (Cofidis) withdrew due to illness, while George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech) abandoned the race.
The Vuelta continues on Sunday with a 195km hilly ride from Alfaro to Valdezcaray.