Chris Froome and Team Sky tried to put their rivals under pressure by launching a strong attack in the crosswinds on stage 8 of the Vuelta a Espana. Despite not managing to distance their key rivals, the Brit was pleased wot have shown an aggressive sprit instead of riding defensively.

Team Sky seized the initiative on a difficult run-in as Chris Froome retained fourth place following stage eight at the Vuelta a Espana.

Blustery conditions and hard racing saw the peloton split into echelons, with Team Sky at the head of affairs after hitting the front to increase the pace on the exposed run into Albacete.

Chris Froome had constant support and remains 20 seconds off the red jersey after three distinct echelons came back together late on. It had looked at one point that some big names, including second-placed Nairo Quintana (Movistar), could be distanced but the top 10 remained unchanged when the dust settled.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) kept hold of his 15-second lead, while in the bunch sprint it was Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) who unleashed a long effort to win the stage. An initial acceleration with 300m to go was enough to give the Frenchman the gap over Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) with Peter Sagan (Cannondale) rounding out the podium places.

With 30km to go Team Sky strung out the bunch and as Pete Kennaugh pulled off the elastic in the peloton snapped and the race split into three distinct groups. The front echelon saw everyone, including Froome, hit the front to drive the group along in a bid to stay away.

After what seemed like a brief slackening of the pace the lead group split for a second time, with Quintana and John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) among those distanced before it finally came back together for the sprint.

"Everyone was up front and in a good position," said Froome after the stage. "We were definitely more on the offensive today than having to react to other people. That's what we wanted.

“It’s a relief to have this stage behind us. Fortunately the team was fantastic, keeping me always up front. Luke Rowe did a massive job there in the echelons. All the guys did a super job. I was never in trouble. That’s what we wanted in case of echelons. 

"Everyone did a massive job out there. I'm just glad to get through that one and into the mountains tomorrow. I think it will be more about following the other favourites at the moment. We've still got a lot of racing to come and a lot of climbing to do. It's going to be a full-on race.

"Now there’s a hill top finish to come tomorrow. I definitely don’t have the form I had for the Tour de France but I feel decent. I’m not in the situation of deciding how the race will unfold. It’ll be more about following the favorites uphill tomorrow: Quintana, Valverde, Rodriguez and Contador.”