Jasper Philipsen collected his second stage of this Vuelta a España with a late, line-snatching surge in Zaragoza, coming off Elia Viviani’s wheel to win a messy sprint on stage 8. The Italian initially took second, only to be relegated to 105th for an irregular sprint, which lifted Ethan Vernon to second and Arne Marit to third. There were no changes on GC, with Torstein Træen finishing safely to retain red by 2:33 over Jonas Vingegaard.
How the stage unfolded
The route from Monzón Templario to Zaragoza was 163 km of near-pan flat roads and, with the wind too gentle for echelons, a sprint always looked likely. The break formed inside the first 5 km, three Spaniards from ProTeam outfits easing clear without resistance: Sergio Samitier for Cofidis, Joan Bou for Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and José Luis Faura for Burgos-BH. Their advantage touched four minutes before Alpecin-Deceuninck and Israel-Premier Tech trimmed it to around 3:30 and set a steady leash.
The opening half was uneventful and slower than the day’s timetable, the peloton content to let the trio work while green jersey Mads Pedersen sat well back, conserving energy for points. The race lost Oliver Knight with 56 km to go, the Cofidis rider climbing off on a day otherwise short on incident.
Attention sharpened as Peñaflor approached. With 52 km remaining, Lidl-Trek moved up for the intermediate sprint. Pedersen, escorted by teammates, clipped off the front and beat Vernon for the minor points on offer after the break had taken the first three across the line. The Dane banked 13 points to Vernon’s 10, a useful top-up for green given the thin menu of flat finishes this year.
Faura was first to fade from the escape when the course dipped into Zaragoza for a preview of the technical last 3 km. Samitier, from nearby Barbastro, tried several accelerations to prolong his day out but couldn’t shake Bou. Their resistance ended with 17 km left, swallowed by a peloton fanned across the city’s wide boulevards under the guidance of GC outfits Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Movistar.
The attrition list lengthened as Israel-Premier Tech’s George Bennett, hampered by knee pain after earlier crashes, stopped with 15 km to go, while UAE’s Juan Ayuso briefly lost contact over a small rise just beyond 10 km to go before settling back into the bunch. With 8 km remaining, the sprint teams asserted themselves. EF Education-EasyPost and Picnic PostNL kept the speed up in the wind, Lidl-Trek and Alpecin tried to stay sheltered, and Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto moved late to impose their trains.
Alpecin hit the front at 4 km to go but their line frayed inside the final 3 km, leaving Philipsen to freelance. The run-in pinched from boulevard to narrower streets and back again, amplifying the fight for space. Ineos Grenadiers appeared at the red kite to pilot Ben Turner, while Lotto delivered Viviani with the cleanest run to 300 metres.
Photo Credit: GettyThe sprint and the rulings
Viviani opened his sprint first, angling to the right as the barriers approached. Philipsen had been boxed for a moment but punched into clear air, surged alongside the barrier and edged past on the line. Behind them, Vernon launched from distance and held speed for the podium, while Marit threaded through the traffic for third after the jury’s decision.
Minutes later, the commissaires reviewed the images and relegated Viviani for deviating from his line in a way that obstructed another rider. Bryan Coquard was also relegated, from sixth to 106th, for an irregular sprint. Both were fined 500 CHF and docked eight points in the points classification, with yellow cards issued.
Philipsen admitted it was far from a clean run. “I was actually completely destroyed already at the start of my sprint because I had to move up in the wind and my legs were feeling like concrete,” he said. “I managed to follow Viviani and really go at the very last moment with some speed but definitely the legs were not there any more. We won, so we cannot complain.”
Viviani, emotional at the finish after coming so close to a first Grand Tour stage win since 2018, reflected on the near miss before news of his relegation reached him. “It’s painful, no? You look at the line in front and you feel it’s closer, it’s closer, but when a guy like Philipsen is around, it’s not over until the line,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for more from the team. They put me in the perfect position.”
Vernon was upbeat with second on the day. “I felt quite fast today but it was really chaotic in the last few kilometres. In the end I started too far back to sprint for the win. When I went with 400-500 m to go I knew it wasn’t for the win, and when a door opened at 200 m I’d already done a 200 m sprint.”
Photo Credit: GettyPedersen’s points jersey push and the road ahead
Pedersen’s day was mixed. The points haul at Peñaflor consolidated his lead in green, but he could manage only 11th in the sprint, later upgraded to ninth after the relegations. “The final sprint just wasn’t good enough,” he said. “Not even finishing in the top 10 isn’t what we came here for. It is what it is. Picking up points in the intermediate sprints is something we have to do, but winning is the most important thing. That’s what it’s all about.”
With the next block heavy on climbs, Lidl-Trek’s plan will tilt toward Giulio Ciccone, but Pedersen hinted he will hunt different kinds of chances. “There will be a few more climbs before the finish, which suits me better right now. Of course there are some days when it is not possible for me to win, and on those days I am at the service of Cicco. I’m here to win races, even those that are more mountainous.”
Philipsen’s win, his 15th at Grand Tour level and second of this Vuelta after the opening day in Novara, came at 3:43:48 for the 163 km stage. Træen kept the red jersey for Bahrain Victorious with the key contenders all in the bunch. Vingegaard remains second at 2:33, João Almeida third at 2:41. The race turns uphill on Sunday with a category-one finish at Valdezcaray, where the GC will take centre stage again.
2025 Vuelta a Espana Stage 8 result
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