Træen Retains La Roja After Stage 8 at La Vuelta

Torstein Træen will spend a third day in the leader’s jersey at the 2025 Vuelta a España after the Bahrain Victorious team successfully navigated the potentially complicated eighth stage of the race. Wind and echelons were predicted this morning, but instead the 163.5 km from Monzón Templario to Zaragoza was more straightforward than had been feared.

The flattest parcours of this year’s edition contained no categorised climbs at all, and a three-man breakaway was kept under control by the peloton, with TBV riders taking the responsibility of protecting the red jersey, reeling back the escapees within the final 20 km.

As expected, Zaragoza delivered a bunch sprint, with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) taking the win ahead of Ethan Vernon (IPT) and Arne Merit (IWA).

With strong support from his teammates, Træen safely retained the overall lead going into stage 9 tomorrow. The 195 km from Alfaro to Estación de Esquí de Valdezcaray, concludes with a demanding summit finish that could reshape the general classification ahead of the first rest day.

Reflecting on the day and looking ahead, Træen said:

“Tomorrow will be a bit like yesterday. The question is, ‘can I hold on to the red jersey or not?’. It’s basically about seeing how I compare against the other GC contenders. If they decide to go full gas, maybe I won’t be able to follow. Today was a relaxing stage, and I enjoyed the jersey a bit. In the final, the team helped me super well, and I’m really grateful for what they did. We arrived safely without any problems. Now we’ll see how it goes tomorrow on the last climb.”

Lead Sports Director Franco Pellizotti praised the team’s collective work while previewing what lies ahead:

“Today we tried to recover as much energy as possible after yesterday’s big effort. On paper it was a day for the sprinters, but we always had to stay vigilant in case of echelons. The boys rode well, always keeping position, and in the final they worked to keep Torstein out of trouble. Tomorrow we will try to defend the leadership as we did yesterday. It won’t be easy, but the guys are motivated and Torstein is in great shape, so we will fight until the last metre to defend the red jersey.”

Træen Retains La Roja After Stage 8 at La Vuelta

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