Alberto Contador again made use of his strong team to help blow the race to pieces in today's windy stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The Spainard was full of praise for Daniele Bennati who had been his key support riders in a hectic finale.

Alberto Contador devoted his first words after today's stage to his teammate Daniele Bennati, who was at his side all through the stage in the echelons of the last kilometers. Alberto calls him a 'locomotive' for obvious reasons.
 
“Benna is a life insurance on a day like this. He kept me well placed at all times and I can only thank him. He’s a priceless ‘workhorse’; he almost takes you into his pocket. It’s important to stay focused and communicate with him because being apart in the peloton is useless”, said the leader of Tinkoff-Saxo.
                                                   
Contador described stage 8 as a draining day, where slight mistakes in the last kilometers of the stage could have had big consequences.

“These days are full of wear, stress and danger. Nothing has happened and I'm happy because I feel pretty well. I was nervous in the last 50k of the stage. I don’t know why, but I thought I had a flat and considered that if I had to stop to change the wheel, it would have been very bad. But everything worked to perfection and the team was great. We’ve completed another stage and now we have to rest because tomorrow will also be important”.
 
Tomorrow's stage is expected to be “just another day, it’s not significantly hard and it’s without tough climbs. I hope to spend it in the best way possible while being able to recover and prepare for the time trial. For now I have to go day-by-day, see how I’m recovering and nothing else. For now, I'm very happy, I didn’t imagine to be third overall after eight stages, but we still have a long way to go”, says Alberto Contador about his race situation.

"Well, to be honest - the first part of the stage was a little less than exciting but when the wind finally picked up and we started going, it turned into a rather thrilling finale," sports driector Steven De Jongh said. "The boys were riding another fantastic stage in terms of staying in the front, being very alert and simply supporting Alberto.

"I'm in awe of Michael Valgren's performance. Considering this is his first pro season and his first Grand Tour, he's riding unbelievably well but all the boys worked hard and well out there. Now, we're looking forward to tomorrow's mountain challenge and we're hoping that Alberto can hang on to the favorites of the race."