00:01After two stages for the climbers, it's time for the sprinters to face off again on stage
00:05eight. We are in the Valencia region heading from Puchol to Chiraco and no question about
00:11the team to beat. Visma and Lisa bike have Watt van Aert in green while Matthew Brennan
00:16has won the two sprints so far. They are ready to fight again on both fronts.
00:21I think we have a plan and if we can execute that plan we can really complement both ambitions
00:27today. I think today the main goal is to obviously go for the stage and there is still two weeks
00:34to go so there is also a lot of opportunities to fight for the green jersey and increase
00:40the lead on Poggi so we will see what happens. Alberto Dianesi was 7th in Roccatese on Wednesday
00:48but he acknowledges that the Visma express train will take some stopping.
00:54Yeah, they have a strong lead out. They have Van Aert and Laporte, they could win themselves
00:59one sprint so of course passing this trio is hard and we need to see how they approach the
01:07final but for sure they take the last corner and the first position with Van Aert and then
01:12Laporte will launch Brennan so I'll see how he goes and if the speed dies a little bit then
01:18I can launch a little bit early otherwise I need to stay in the same stream and try to
01:22come out the last metres.
01:24For Jordi Moers, second behind Brennan a few days ago, anything is possible.
01:30Actually this stage 5 was not really predicted as a sprint chance for me. I was happy that
01:36I was still there but I missed a little bit because of this last steep hill so we hope we
01:42have a bit more power left today and hopefully we can be up there again.
01:47It hasn't been an easy race for Caden Groves who admits he's not in top shape. The climbs
01:52have prevented the Aussie from taking part in the sprints so far but he hopes to be up
01:57there today.
01:58It's a stage that suits me, we need to of course assess where I am on top of the climb
02:03and hopefully
02:04with enough boys around me I can come back. As far as the last part of the stage is it's
02:08relatively straight forward so I think it should be the first pure sprint stage of this Walton
02:14and there are not many of them.
02:16There's only one climb on the menu today but it could make a difference. 4.7k at 5.6%
02:22which
02:22could be enough to drop the pure sprinters especially if Visma go hard. Either way there
02:27will be plenty of contenders for victory in Sciaraco.
02:33Well the day before an absolute beast of a mountain stage, not many riders were expected
02:37to be targeting the breakaway especially with a bunch sprint all but guaranteed. In the
02:42end only one man fancied it, Sinue Fernandez of the Burgos team. The Spaniard heading up
02:48the road for the second time this week and opening up a maximum gap of nearly six minutes
02:52on the peloton.
02:54He's got to try and show himself, show his team as a wildcard team in this race.
03:01It's a day that could clearly come down to a sprint so hopefully it's going to be easier
03:05to get into the breakaway than it has been in the past few days. We have to be in there
03:10of course to show our team. That's the plan.
03:17Well meanwhile a couple of riders were just making their way back to the peloton including
03:21the man with the number one bib, Primoz Roglic.
03:26Primoz Roglic, the full time winner of this race, being brought and piloted back by his
03:31teammate Gianni Vermees with that little scuff perhaps suggests he was one of the three riders
03:38who has come down as well here.
03:40It was reportedly a puncture rather than a crash for Roglic who was soon back in the bunch.
03:45Meanwhile Fernandes continued his solo effort but the gap was coming down with Steven Kreuzweig
03:51pacing the bunch for Wisma.
03:53The Dutch squad just keeping Burgos' lone ranger under control and no doubt thinking about
03:57the intermediate sprint for Van Aert that would come around 33k from the finish.
04:02It would then be on to the climb before a downhill sweep to the finish line.
04:17The tension cranking up considerably in the peloton before that intermediate sprint with everybody
04:23absolutely flat out.
04:25Fernandes was soon caught before a couple of riders went to ground.
04:30A little bit of an issue, crash here in the peloton.
04:34Ethan Hayter caught up the British rider as well as one rider from Lotto into Marche.
04:40Van Aert looking to tighten his grip on the green jersey.
04:43Here goes Wout Van Aert.
04:45Wout Van Aert wants the 20 points here.
04:47He takes the 20 points as well as the six bonus seconds.
04:52Job well done from Visma Lisa bike.
04:55The pace staying high because the climb was looming but first came the most dramatic moment of the day.
05:02Big crash.
05:03Big crash.
05:03Taddy Pogaccia is caught up in that red jersey.
05:07Taddy Pogaccia the leader of La Vuelta Espana has come down and he's come down hard.
05:14Taddy Pogaccia the leader of the 81st edition of La Vuelta Espana.
05:20The world champion sadly abandoned after that crash.
05:25Heartbreak for the Slovenian.
05:27A huge shame to see the world champion and leader in the general classification in that red jersey.
05:33Taddy Pogaccia have to step off the bike.
05:37Pogaccia abandoning his first race since Liege passed on Liege in 2023 and we wish him a speedy recovery.
05:45Meanwhile Van Aert was also the first man over the summit of the climb as Xavier Asparin attacked.
05:53The Spaniard making the most of a bit of a lull to go solo with everybody still digesting the news
05:58that the world champion was out including his teammates six minutes back.
06:03Incredibly it's the first time in his career that Pogaccia has abandoned a stage race.
06:07Asparin enjoying a proper ding dong with the peloton still leading by around 15 seconds.
06:13And it wasn't until the last two kilometres of the race that they finally brought him to heel.
06:18Time for the sprint shootout but Brennan had lost contact with his lead out man Christophe Laporte so the Frenchman
06:25went for it himself.
06:27It's a long straight road all the way to the finish and there's a crash.
06:30Several riders down.
06:32Lotto into Marche cut up.
06:33Azar Alpesin Premier tick.
06:35Meanwhile the sprint opens up ahead.
06:38Mads Pedersen is there for Lidl Trek.
06:40Here comes Ben Turner.
06:41Laporte comes.
06:42He's delivered.
06:43Now it's on the right hand side in the yellow jersey.
06:46It's Brian Cocker.
06:47Just taken his first Grand Tour stage victory.
06:53Brian Cocker did his first Grand Tour back in 2014.
06:56And now in his 13th he has finally claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory.
07:01Lucky for some.
07:02The 34 year old Frenchman notching his third win of the season.
07:06The 56th of his career after a chaotic day on the roads of La Vuelta.
07:13I finished a lot of time in second.
07:16In the Grand Tour.
07:19And yeah I'm 34 years old.
07:22I do my effort at the good moment.
07:25With the aspiration and yeah I'm so proud and very happy.
07:29I wait a lot of time for this victory and I work a lot of also.
07:34And yeah it's an amazing, amazing day.
07:38Cocker taking a memorable win ahead of Pedersen and Murs.
07:41Followed by Turner, La Brosse, Romeli and Conchon.
07:44Brennan, who got boxed in, could only manage 10th place.
07:49Enric Maas takes red for the first time in his career.
07:52Though he didn't wear it on the podium out of respect for Pogaccia.
07:56A new Vuelta now starts without the world champion.
08:01Visma didn't get the stage today but they are dominating the points classification.
08:05Van Aert in green with a big lead over Brennan.
08:09Pogaccia's polka dot jersey goes to Andreas Leknesund, yesterday's stage winner.
08:13The Norwegian is three points ahead of Van Aert.
08:18And no change in white with Oscar Onley still three minutes 48 clear.
08:23Tomorrow will be a big test for the red jersey contenders now that Pogaccia has gone.
08:28A brutal stage with more than 5,000 metres of climbing.
08:31Do join us for that on Sunday and thanks for watching.
