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Quintana takes overall lead in Vuelta de Espana

Xinhua, August 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Nairo Quintana is the new leader of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race after a difficult Stage 8 on Saturday.

The 181 kilometer stage was relatively flat until the last 8 kilometers, which took the riders up the Alto de la Camperona, a hugely testing climb with some stages containing a gradient of 20 and 25 percent.

That profile meant the race favorites of the riders preferred to keep their powder dry until the climb which allowed an 11 man break to open a gap of 9 minutes at the foot of the final climb.

One of the escapees, Sergey Lagutin (Katusha) went on to claim the stage, while down the road the battle commenced for the leadership with Chris Froome launching his attack at two kilometers from the finish. Quintana responded well and rode ahead of the Tour de France winner to take the overall leadership with Alberto Contador, who recovered well from his nasty fall on Friday, finishing behind him a few seconds ahead of Froome.

Quintana now leads the race 19 seconds ahead of his Movistar team-mate Alejandro Valverde and with a 27 second advantage over Froome.

Sunday is another testing stage with five categorized climbs between Oviedo and the Alto de Naranco, where there is another hilltop finish. Endit