Nicolas Roche was clearly chasing precious seconds in the hunt for the leader's jersey at the Vuelta. Saturday's stage 8 was one of carnage and drama, with Dan Martin one of the big names crashing out (Photo: Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche is up to third overall at the Vuelta A Espana – but only because his cousin Dan Martin crashed out on another enthralling day on the race.
Less than 24 hours after it was confirmed Martin was to leave Garmin Cannondale to join fellow World Tour team Etixx Quick Step, his world came crumbling down when he was involved in a huge pile-up with 50 kilometres to go and suffered race-ending injuries.
It’s not yet confirmed what the nature of those injuries are but the Irishman is not one for going down easily – and he did look in considerable pain while lying prone on the roadside verge.
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It’s gutting for Martin that his season – and his time with the American team, should end this way, let alone the fact he looked to be flying in this Vuelta.
He occupied third overall starting today but because he was carted off to hospital and the race came to a reduced bunch sprint, Roche – who finished the stage 10th in the same time as the winner, went from fourth to third.
Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing) took the sprint win from that lead group with Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural) and Kevin Reza (FDJ) second and third, respectively.
The general classification contenders all finished together to retain the same time gaps, but with some reshuffling of positions as a result of the abandonments.
One GC contender forced out was American Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) while Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis, Credits Solutions) and Kris Boeckmans (Lotto Soudal) were others who were unable to continue.
Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEDGE) still leads by 10 seconds overall from Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) with Roche lurking a further 26 seconds down.
Speaking of his teammate Chris Froome’s slide down the GC yesterday, Roche played down fears the reigning Tour de France champion is a shadow of what he can be.
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“We’ve seen him many times have a bad day but not lose too much time and take it day by day and recover.
“This is the first one and there are many, many, many more to come, and harder stages too, so if he lost 10, 20 or 30 seconds yesterday it’s not the end of the world.”
Tomorrow’s stage takes the riders 168 kilometres from Torrevieja to the summit finish at Cumbre del Sol. Benitachell.
Stage 8: Puebla de Don Fabrique to Murcia (182.5km)
1 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing 4:06:05
2 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
3 Kévin Reza (Fra) FDJ.fr
4 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
5 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) MTN - Qhubeka
6 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
7 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
8 Pieter Serry (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step
9 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky all same time
DNF Dan Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin
General Classification
1 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica GreenEdge 31:12:18
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:10
3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:36
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:49
5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:56
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:57
7 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
8 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:18
9 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:19
10 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:21
11 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:22
12 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:29
13 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:39
14 Songezo Jim (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka 0:01:51
15 Sergio Luis Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:02:24
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