Primož Roglic strikes back and takes another stage win

Primož Roglic has added another stage to his impressive Grand Tour palmares after taking nearly a minute back from race leader Ben O'Connor

Today's win was his 21st stage victory in one of the three grand tours. But it wasn't the hunt for records that was decisive today - the hunt for seconds is currently taking centre stage.

Roglic has made up almost a minute on the current leader of the Vuelta over the past two days. He remains in second place in the GC, now 3:49 minutes behind Ben O'Connor. With the stage win, Roglic also takes the lead in the mountain classification and will start tomorrow in the blue dotted jersey as the best climber. After the previous red and white jerseys, the team now added another classification jersey for the 2024 Vuelta in its ranks.

Primož Roglic said afterwards, "It was another tough day, the chance to win the stage was there and I took it. I was lucky to have the legs for it today. We'll see how my body reacts to this effort. So we'll enjoy the moment and try our best again tomorrow."
 
Tomorrow's ninth stage leads through the Sierra Nevada. With more than 4500 metres in altitude, it is undoubtedly the biggest challenge for the riders in the first half of the Vuelta.

VIDEO: Stage 9 Highlights

Stage 8 Top 10

1  ROGLIC Primož Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 3:38:34
2  MAS Enric Movistar Team 0:00
3  LANDA Mikel Soudal Quick-Step 0:14
4  TIBERI Antonio Bahrain - Victorious 0:17
5  SKJELMOSE Mattias Lidl - Trek 0:21
6  RODRÍGUEZ Carlos INEOS Grenadiers 0:21
7  TEJADA Harold Astana Qazaqstan Team 0:24
8  DUNBAR Eddie Team Jayco AlUla 0:26
9  VAN EETVELT Lennert Lotto Dstny 0:29
10  HAIG Jack Bahrain - Victorious 0:29

GC after Stage 8

1 -  O'CONNOR Ben DAT 31:23:27 -
2 -  ROGLIC Primož RBH 3:49 +0:56
3 - MAS Enric MOV 4:31 +0:52
4 - TIBERI Antonio TBV 5:00 +0:29
5 - LANDA Mikel SOQ 5:13 +0:36
6 -VAN EETVELT Lennert LTD 5:15 +0:17
7 -  RODRÍGUEZ Cristián ARK 5:19 +0:07
8 - SKJELMOSE Mattias LTK 5:24 +0:25
9 - LIPOWITZ Florian RBH 5:25 +0:10
10 -  GALL Felix DAT 5:26 +0:12