The start of 80th Vuelta a España’s first weekend eased off on the climbing and the fast men had their day, Jasper Philipsen adding a second bunch sprint win to his Italian Stage 1 triumph. Torstein Træen held fast to the leader’s red jersey.
The Course
The sprinters would be excited to get back into their neck of the woods. A few ripples in the opening half of 163 km flattened and finished on a 24-km circuit around Zaragoza.
It was Pedersen vs Philipsen vs Turner vs Vernon. Image by La FlammeRouge
Mads Pedersen didn’t have any stage wins, but he led the points classification by 22 points over Ethan Vernon and 23 over Philipsen.
He was the man in purple at the Giro and he wants to be the man in green in Madrid. Photo: Sirotti
After two consecutive days of breakaway winners, the possibility of an escape succeeding was reflected by only three Spaniards bothering to go out on the hunt. Saturday’s intermediate sprint was in Peñaflor, 38 km from the finish line, where Pedersen snapped up the fourth-most points.
At the first passage of the Zaragoza finish line, the gap was small, and it was all together with 17 km to race. The peloton galloped towards Saturday’s conclusion. Lotto led under the red kite and their man Elia Viviani went hard on the left hand side. But Philipsen had the power to come around on the barrier and receive the day’s flowers. Viviani slammed his handlebar in frustration.
The last day before the first rest day end atop Cat. 1 Estación de Esquí de Valdezcaray, 13.3 km of 5.2 percent.
2025 Vuelta a España Stage 8
1) Jasper Philipsen (Belgium/Alpecin-Deceuninck) 3:43:48
2) Elia Viviani (Italy/Lotto) s.t.
3) Ethan Vernon (Great Britain/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
2025 Vuelta a España GC
1) Torstein Træen (Norway/Bahrain-Victorious) 29:01:50
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) +2:33
3) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +2:41
4) Giulio Ciccone (Italy/Lidl-Trek) +2:42