13 riders from 13 different teams were in today's breakaway on the 166 kilometer long eighth stage of Vuelta a Espana between Jerez de la Frontera to the uphill finish, Alto Penas Blancas. In the peloton, the GC teams took turns chasing in the front of the pack positioning their captains at the foot of the uphill finish and Saxo-Tinkoff's Nicolas Roche was in a perfect position.

A few kilometers up the slope, Team Saxo-Tinkoff's Roman Kreuziger was dropped from the group of favourites that kept getting smaller and with 5 kilometers from the top, the last standing escapees were swept up. Kreuziger is happy about Roche taking the jersey, but isn’t happy about getting dropped off early. Shortly after he dropped of, Igor Anton (Euskatel) launched an attack from the front group. 

“For the team, it’s a good day. It’s a real satisfaction to have the jersey with Nicolas. As for myself, I was lacking strength after having done the Tour de France. It’s a pity. I’ve been dropped pretty early…”

1.4 kilometers from the finish line, a handful of riders leaped away to chase the Euskatel rider. Team Saxo-Tinkoff's Nicolas Roche was in the mix and they bridged the gap to Anton. On the finish line, Leopold Konig (NetApp) was the fastest rider but Team Saxo-Tinkoff's Nicolas Roche had a brilliant finish, crossed the finish line in third position and took the overall lead of the race.

“It was a fantastic final day of a sensational first week of the race for us. Two stage wins, a series of different jerseys and now to top it off; Nico [Nicolas Roche] takes the overall lead. We're very happy and it's deserved that he conquers the overall lead. But with the jersey follows responsibility and there's probably no need to mention that there's a long way to Madrid,” said Saxo-Tinkoff DS, Fabrizio Guidi to the Saxo-Tinkoff webpage. 

Naturally, Team Saxo-Tinkoff's Nicolas Roche was a happy man after the podium ceremony:

“Man, this is a dream come true. Surely, I was digging deep on the final few kilometers of the stage but I had the jersey in sight and decided to open up and see if I could get it and here I am. It's been an amazing week for me and I know there's a very long way to Madrid and it would be optimistic for me to say that I can defend it from now on. The team has been supporting me so far and I know they are a 100 per cent behind me. I'll take one stage at a time and now I'll be focusing on defending the lead on tomorrow's stage,” said Saxo-Tinkoff's Nicolas Roche.