Vuelta a Espana 2015: Stage 8 Results, Overall Standings and Highlights

Belgian youngster Jasper Stuyven took the win in Stage 8 of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana, with Saturday's chaotic stage ending in a bunch sprint in Murcia.

A number of crashes decimated the peloton, giving the teams no chance to get organised, and Stuyven took full advantage. Several riders were forced to abandon the race 30 kilometres before the finish line, including general-classification hopefuls Dan Martin and Tejay van Garderen.

Fan-favourite Peter Sagan crashed during the finale and appeared to do so because he was hit by a motorbike, adding a layer of controversy to what was already a crazy stage.

Here are the results from Saturday's stage:

The latest standings:

Pos	Rider	Time
1	Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEDGE	31:12:18
2	Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin	0:00:10
3	Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky	0:00:36
4	Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team	0:00:49
5	Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	0:00:56
6	Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team	0:00:57
7	Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team	0:00:57
8	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha	0:01:18
9	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale	0:01:19
10	Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky	0:01:21

Saturday's stage toward Murcia had the peloton racing at high speeds for much of the day, spending much of its time descending before climbing the Cresta del Gallo twice.

The temperatures were as high as they've been the past few days, and the physical strain visibly started to take its toll on the riders. A number of them failed to keep up in the technical descents and were forced to spend even more energy in the flats to keep up with the peloton.

Amid all the chaos, accidents were bound to happen, and after an uneventful start to the stage, disaster struck just before the first real climb of the day.

A massive section of the peloton hit the asphalt, with the likes of Van Garderen, Martin and Nacer Bouhanni hitting the deck. Van Garderen broke his collarbone, forcing him to abandon the Vuelta just weeks after his Tour de France also came to an early end, via Procyclingnews.eu:

Martin and Bouhanni also quit the race.

At the front of the pack, Jose Joaquin Rojas powered his way to the top of the climb before taking a tumble in the descent, and plenty of local favourites took advantage. The riders for the general classification regrouped and allowed a select group of riders to take the lead, before Movistar started pulling again, in an attempt to drop one of the favourites on the final ascent.

Alberto Losada and Kenny Elissonde tried to catch their fellow leaders by surprise by making a late job, but in the background, the peloton started getting organised again. With teams looking for their sprinters, the pack lost a lot of time to start the chase, but eventually, they managed to push the pace once again.

The riders weren't done crashing, however, and Sagan was the next to hit the deck. The star sprinter wasn't happy at all, as shared by Velocast's Scott O'Raw:

It was unclear whether Sagan was taken out by a motorbike or car or whether there was contact with a motorbike after the crash at the time, but either way, the Slovak was furious with the organisation. Once the stage was over, Tinkoff-Saxo sporting director Patxi Vila claimed there had been contact.

After the race, Jesper Hansen's comments made it clear exactly how chaotic the stage was. He didn't even know Sagan had crashed and kept working for a race leader who wasn't there, as noted by Rasmus Staghoj of TV2 Denmark (h/t cycling writer Mikkel Conde):

Elissonde and Losada seemed primed to battle it out for the stage win, but the peloton organised itself just in time and managed to overtake the leaders to force a bunch sprint. In that sprint, Trek Factory Racing's Stuyven proved to be the smartest rider, taking advantage of the chaos and hopping wheels before placing his jump.

Sunday's stage will be similar to Saturday's, with the exception being the climb the peloton will face twice. The Cumbre del Sol is a lot tougher than the Cresta del Gallo, and with the finish line near the summit of the climb, this stage won't end in a sprint.

The climb may be too short for the GC contenders to make a difference, but expect the likes of Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde to give it a go nonetheless. 

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