Mads Pedersen overtakes Sam Bennett in race for green jersey at Vuelta a Espana

Mads Pedersen overtook Sam Bennett at the top of the points classification on Saturday as Jay Vine claimed stage eight of the Vuelta a Espana and Remco Evenepoel maintained his advantage at the top of the general classification.

Norwegian Pedersen captured the green jersey from Bennett after scoring 20 points in the intermediate points sprint, putting him five points ahead of the Irishman.

It was a second stage win in three days for Australian Vine, who made his move and sped away from the breakaway group with 6km to go, finishing ahead of Marc Soler, who threatened with a late surge, and Rein Taaramee.

Evenepoel, Enric Mas and Primoz Roglic all finished on the same time, allowing Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider Evenepoel to preserve his 28-second lead in the race for the overall leader's red jersey.

The 153.4km stage from Pola de Laviana to Collau Fancuaya proved to be another difficult outing for some of the other contenders as the likes of Joao Almeida, Juan Ayuso, Hugh Carthy and Jai Hindley all lost more than 50 seconds.

Action continues in the Vuelta on Sunday when the riders tackle the 171.4km course from Villaviciosa to Les Praeres.