CYCLING – Torstein Traeen will spend a third day in the leader’s jersey at La Vuelta a Espana 2025 after Team Bahrain Victorious successfully navigated the potentially complicated eighth stage of the race yesterday.
Wind and echelons were predicted in the morning, but instead the 163.5-kilometre route from Monzon 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 Bahrain Victorious riders taking the responsibility of protecting the red jersey, reeling back the escapees within the final 20km.
As expected, Zaragoza delivered a bunch sprint, with Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck taking the win ahead of Ethan Vernon of IPT and Arne Merit of IWA.
With strong support from his teammates, Traeen safely retained the overall lead going into stage nine today.
The 195km course from Alfaro to Estacion de Esqui de Valdezcaray concludes with a demanding summit finish that could reshape the general classification ahead of the first rest day tomorrow.
Reflecting on the day and looking ahead, Traeen 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 (general classification) 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.”
Bahrain Victorious’ 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,” said Pellizotti. “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.”
&uuid=(email))