Philipsen sprints to victory in Vuelta stage eight, Traeen retains red

ZARAGOZA, Spain :Belgium's Jasper Philipsen of team Alpecin–Deceuninck sprinted to victory in stage eight of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, edging out Elia Viviani and Ethan Vernon in a photo finish as Torstein Traeen retained the red jersey.

Viviani's Lotto teammates tried to lead him out in the last kilometre of the 163.5km flat ride from Monzon to Zaragoza, but Philipsen, who also won the first stage, made a late push to cross the line first.

Former Tour de France points classification winner Philipsen said he lost contact with his lead-out in the last kilometre.

"I had to find my way, take a bit of extra wind, and really come late because my legs were concrete. But I just managed to win, so I'm really happy, and the effort of the team has not been for nothing," the 27-year-old said.

Norwegian Traeen (Bahrain Victorious) remains two minutes and 33 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the general classification, with 13 stages remaining.

Philipsen's 15th Grand Tour stage win closed the gap on points classification leader Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) to 12 points.

Joan Bou, Sergio Samitier and Jose Luis Faura established a four-minute lead on the chasing pack in the first 20km of stage eight.

Dylan van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike) tried to position himself in front of peloton with 5km to go, but by the last kilometre, Lotto riders had the upper hand before Philipsen's final move.

Britain's Oliver Knight (Cofidis) withdrew from the race due to illness, and George Bennett (Israel Premier Tech) abandoned.

The Vuelta continues on Sunday with a 195km hilly ride from Alfaro to Valdezcaray.