Vuelta a Espana Climbing Shakes Things Up in Stage Eight

The Vuelta finally hit some climbing in stage eight and thus, there was a chance for breakaways. Most of the time up until today, breakaways were quickly swallowed back up by the peloton leading to a lot of group sprints at the end of stages in order to win.

Italian Damiano Cunego put on an inspired attack at the tail end of the stage after six hours in the saddle. He left the leading group behind and wound up catching David Moncoutie in basically the final kilometer.

The overall general classification was shaken up a bit with Cadel Evans capturing the leader's golden jersey, ending Fabian Cancellara's one-day back in gold. Cancellara dropped way back in the GC because he finished nearly 26 minutes behind. Interestingly, Saxo Bank teammate Andy Schleck dropped out of the race today.

Evans probably shouldn't get too comfortable in gold as he has Alejandro Valverde right behind him by only two seconds and Sammy Sanchez only eight seconds back. That could melt away quickly especially with more climbing tomorrow, albeit not as much as today. For the preview, check out Podium Cafe.