Tom Dumoulin took 24th from the reduced bunch sprint, as the second passage of the day’s climb on stage 8 of the Vuelta turned out to be too difficult for John Degenkolb. Jasper Stuyven won the stage and Esteban Chaves defended his leading position in the GC with success.

The start of stage 8 of the Vuelta was a fast one on descending roads with lots of attempts to break away, as eventually six riders succeeded. On the program for the finale were two passages of the third category climb the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo with the top of the second one at 17km from the finish.

With 50km to go a big crash took down several riders including GC contenders and sprinters. Also Lawson Craddock was involved and Tom Dumoulin was delayed by the crash but came back in the bunch without problems. Craddick  was unable to come back, but finished the stage without major issues in 129th.

A reduced bunch of 45 riders raced towards the finish, as Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing) won the sprint in the streets of Murcia and Dumoulin took 24th. Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEDGE) remains the overall leader and Dumoulin is still second in the GC.

Coach Addy Engels explained: “It was a long fight for the break to get loose. Directly after that moment we start controlling the gap together with Tinkoff Saxo.

“Unfortunately, the large crash ruined or plans, as a lot of chaos emerged. Several groups were formed and the control was gone. Tom was involved but continued unharmed and returned in the bunch shortly after.

“The second passage of today’s climb turned out to be too hard for John, as Tom was our only rider to be part of the reduced bunch.”

"Another day gone," Dumoulin said. "And it was not a good day. I was involved in the crash. It was chaos there and it took me a lot of energy to make it back.

"Then in the last climb I tried to do my job to help John (Degenkolb) but he was not there. I don't know what happened to him, whether he crashed of got dropped. The roads were narrow and slippery, it was a hard day."