Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) returned to the top step of the podium in the Vuelta a Espana when he completed an excellent performance on a windy day by winning a sprint from a small group. With Sky initiating the move, the peloton split into several groups which caused Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) and Sergio Pardilla (MTN-Qhubeka) to lose time, but Bouhanni made all the splits and did a very impressive headwind sprint to hold off Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale). Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was never in trouble and defended his lead on the eve of the next mountain stage.

Nacer Bouhanni proved that is not only very fast but also a very strong bike rider when he took his second stage win in the Vuelta a Espana on a dramatic stage 8 of the race. On a windy day when the peloton split into several group, the Frenchman was always in the front group and never seemed to be in trouble.

In the end, a small 30-rider group was sprinting for the win and here he proved that he is currently the fastest rider in the bunch. Having been positioned a bit too far back when Nikolas Maes led Tom Boonen out, he launched a long sprint into a headwind and immediately opened a small gap to his rivals.

Michael Matthews managed to catch his wheel and the Australian hung on for dear life until the wind caused Bouhanni to fade. Matthews tried to pass the FDJ sprinter but ran out of metres and had to settle while a resurgent Peter Sagan managed to pass John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) to take third.

The drama was caused by Sky who had used the windy conditions to split the field with 35km to go. Their acceleration had an immediate effect as the bunch broke into three different groups, with Romain Sicard (Europcar), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) and Sergio Pardilla (MTN) all finding themselves in the second group.

Europcar, IAM, Cofidis and MTN chased hard and seemed to be getting back in contention when Sky made another move. While they didn’t manage to split the group, their acceleration made it impossible for the second group to rejoin the front.

More drama occurred when BMC managed to split the first group and this time Nairo Quintana (Movistar); Fabio Aru (Astana), Warren Barguil (Giant), Degenkolb and Dan Martin (Garmin) all missed the split. However, Giant-Shimano had strength in numbers and with a few riders dropping back to the Barguil-Degenkolb group, they managed to bring their captains back to the front.

Alejandro Valverde, Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Joaquim Rodriguez were always in a good position and made all the key splits. This means that Valverde defended his overall lead and maintains he 15-second lead over Quintana in the overall standings.

Valverde takes that advantage into tomorrow’s second big mountain stage. After a flat start, the riders tackle three climbs in the finale. None of them are very difficult but the final 8km ascent is set to create the next differences between the overall contenders.

A windy day

After a few days out of the spotlight, the sprinters were again expected to shine in stage 8 which brought the riders over 207km from Baeza to Albacete. There were no categorized climbs along the mostly flat roads but with crosswind for most of the day, a nervous ride was expected to precede a very likely sprint finish.

For the first time, there were less than 198 riders at the start as 3 riders abandoned during yesterday’s stage. However, all riders who made it to the finish in Alcaudete, were back on their bikes when the riders took off in slightly colder conditions than they have had in the first week of the race.

The break takes off

As everybody expects a sprint finish, it was no surprise that the first attack was the right one. Unsurprisingly, Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) was part of the action and he was joined by Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida).

After 11km of racing, the pair were already 1.10 ahead and they continued to build their advantage. At the 30km mark, they were already 6 minutes ahead.

Giant takes control

The gap reached 7 minutes before Giant-Shimano started to chase, hoping to set John Degenkolb up for another win. They brought the gap down to 6.20 after 61km of racing before they got assistance from Nacer Bouhanni’s FDJ team.

However, the two teams were controlling more than really chasing and at the 85km mark, the gap was stil 6.045. Meanwhile, Aramendia fought his way back to the front after having been set back by a mechanical.

Degenkolb scores a point

After around 100km of racing, FDJ and Giant-Shimano upped the pace and they were assisted by the fact that Favilli also had to rejoin the break after a mechanical. With 86km to go, they had brought the gap down to 4.20.

Favilli led Aramendia across the line in the first intermediate sprint while Degenkolb sprinted ahead to pick up the final point. The peloton was now starting to get nervous and as the teams started to gather themselves near the front, the gap started to melt away.

Contador tries to sprint

With 60km to go, the peloton was only 2.25 behind and now Giant had stopped their work. Instead, Laurent Mangel was the only rider taking turns on the front but everybody wanted to stay near the front, the pace was very fast.

Giant-Shimano went back to work, with Lawson Craddock trading pulls with Mangel. Meanwhile, Favilli led Aramendia across the line in the final intermediate sprint. Sergio Paulinho tried to lead Contador out for the sprint but as Christian Knees and Peter Kennaugh were ready to challenge him, the Spaniard gave up, meaning that Paulinho scored the final point.

Sky make their move

The fast pace meant that the escapees were losing ground quickly and with 41km to go, the break was brought back. That was the signal for the GC teams to kick into action, with Sky, Europcar and Tinkoff-Saxo taking over the pace-setting with Philip Deignan, Natnael Berhane and Matteo Tosatto.

With 30km to go, Sky made their move. Peter Kennaugh made a huge acceleration and Tinkoff-Saxo immediately joined the fun.

The second group gets closer

Jasper Stuyven, Fabian Cancellara, Ivan Rovny and Tom Boonen also started to ride on the front and GC riders like Wilco Kelderman, Robert Gesink, Contador, Froome and Quintana were now also taking turns. As a consequence, the peloton split into three big groups.

With 25km to go, the gap was 20 seconds and Europcar, MTN, Cofidis and IAM were now chasing hard in the second group. They seemed to be getting closer to the first group until Sky tried again with 17km to go.

Quintana loses ground

The move didn’t pay off but instead BMC hit the front. With Cadel Evans, Samuel Sanchez, Steve Morabito and Manuel Quinziato trading pulls, the first group split, with Quintana, Aru, Degenkolb and Barguil failing to make the selection.

A few Giant riders dropped back to the second group and with five kilometres to go, they managed to rejoin the first group. The riders had now entered the finishing city, meaning that there was less wind.

Sky hit the front

Sky hit the front with Christian Knees, Luke Rowe and Kanstantsin Siutsou before OPQS took over with Pieter Serry. While the Belgian took a huge turn, the sprinters started to position themselves.

Ivan Rovny brought Contador into position by taking a turn before Mitch Docker made his lead-out for Matthews. However, he was passed by Maes who set Boonen perfectly up for the sprint but there was nothing to be done against Bouhanni.