Nairo Quintana kept the Vuelta red jersey Colombian property when he outshone the rest of the favorites in the grueling La Camperona climb in the finale of the 8th stage won by veteran Russian Sergey Lagutin (Katusha), one of the eleven escapees of the day. Lagutin, 35, outwitted Frenchmen Axel Domont (Ag2R) and Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie) in the final stretch, to snatch a career-topping stage win. The big battle between the GC leaders revealed the limits of race leader Darwin Apatuma (BMC), but more importantly of Tour de Fance champion Chris Froome, who faltered in the first big test of the race this year, while Alberto Contador did not look too affected by his crash in the stage 7 finale.
186 riders took the start, including Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) in spite of his crash in yesterday's finale. Eleven riders – Gatis Smukulis (Astana), Zico Waeytens (Giant-Alpecin), Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale), Sergey Lagutin and Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha), Pieter Serry (Etixx-Quick Step), Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida), Loïc Chetout (Cofidis), Scott Thwaites (Bora-Argon18) and Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie) – took advantage of crosswind to break clear after nine kilometers. Tailwind then helped them build a solid lead over the peloton as they covered 45.8 kilometers in the first hour. After 105 km, the gap reached eight minutes over a peloton led by Darwin Atapuma's BMC team-mates. The gap went up to 10:30 with 40 km to go as the average speed remained over 45 kph. The stage win was then promised to one of the 11 escapees.
Waeytens tried to attack at the bottom of La Camperona and collected the points of the day's intermediate sprint ahead of Smukulis and Restrepo, who went in turn to tackle the final ascent in the lead. But the young Colombian cracked in the most grueling sector of the final ramp. Under the red flame, Serry, Lagutin, Domont and Quemeneur were the last four riders left to battle it out for the stage. Veteran Lagutin was the most experienced of the lot and he surged in the last 200 metres to snatch victory.
At the front of the pack, Chris Froome tried to toughen the race in the hardest part of the final ramp. But after dropping Contador, he suddenly found himself stuck on the tarmac while Quintana attacked and went on to conquer the red jersey. Froome was even overtaken by Contador in the final stretch.
Overall, Quintana now leads his team-mate Alejandro Valverde by 19 seconds with Froome third, 27 seconds adrift. Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) was one of the other disappointments of the day and he now lies fourth, 57 seconds behind his compatriot.