Team Sky retained their strong general classification foothold at the Vuelta a Espana following an action-packed eighth stage.

Two passes over the punchy and technical Alto de la Cresta del Galla saw the peloton stretched to breaking point in the closing stages, but as the race finished in Murcia Nicolas Roche moved back up to third overall.

The Irishman was present over the top of the third-category climb and was 10th over the line as the stage culminated in a reduced bunch sprint. Also there in the pack were Chris Froome, Mikel Nieve and Sergio Henao as the team GC leaders again showed impressive consistency.

With attacks firing clear late on, Henao marked moves on the climb and the Colombian briefly made his way into a select front group over the top.

Eventually a regrouping saw the race come back together and Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing) win the bunch sprint.

Roche continues to sit 36 seconds back on race leader Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), while Nieve (+1:21) and Froome (+1:22) both moved up one place to 10th and 11th overall respectively. Henao himself jumped up two places to 15th (+2:24).

The pace began to rise ahead of the final pair of climbs and inside 50km to go a huge crash hit the peloton.

Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) were among the big names involved and forced to abandon the Vuelta.

With the race very much on and speed high, leader Chaves was forced to chase back on in a group that also contained Henao.

Ahead of the final ascent Team Sky put together a lead-out to the foot of the climb, with Christian Knees, Geraint Thomas and Vasil Kiryienka pushing hard before Salvatore Puccio and Ian Boswell set a tempo as the climb began.

"It was a tricky finish and after the crash it was still quite a long way to the line," said Sports Director Dario Cioni. "The guys were at the front, able to stay there and did a good job. Sergio was held up in the crash but managed to get back on without any problems which is the main thing.

"We're in a good position. The main week is obviously the second week and we just want to keep going and enter that in the best position possible."