Giro d'Italia Stage 8 taken by Benat Intxausti - Alberto Contador keeps overall lead

Benat Intxausti of Movistar has won Stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia at Campitello Matese, the second summit finish of the race. Alberto Contador retains the race lead, crossing the line along with his closest rivals Astana’s Fabio Aru and Richie Porte of Team Sky.

Fabio Aru led their group home at the end of the 188-kilometre stage from Fiuggi, winning the sprint for fourth.

With Contador having picked up 2 bonus seconds at the day’s first intermediate sprint to double his lead over the Astana rider to 4 seconds, third place for Aru on the finish line would have put the pair level on the same time.

That the Sardinian, who leads the young rider’s classification he won last year, didn’t get those seconds is partly because team mate Mikel Landa had headed up the road with a little under 5 kilometres remaining.

He came second ahead of Sebastien Reichenbach of IAM – along with Intxausti the only survivor of the day’s break – on a stage when Astana showed they had real strength in depth, with Landa himself moving higher up the top 10.

It’s Intxausti’s second Giro d’Italia stage win – the other was on a day that finished in Ivrea, Piedmont, during the 2013 race and like today was classified a medium mountain stage.

Following the stage, the Movistar rider said:  "Today was a good day for the breakaway group to stay away. It was really hard to get into the breakaway but my legs were good all day.

"On the final climb, I always had the gaps. I knew that Kruiswijk was good, but I also knew that he would be tired after being at the front, burning more energy than me.

"And with five km to go, when the Maglia Rosa group was just over a minute behind, it was also dangerous. So when I saw the opportunity to go the finish, I went for it.

"I rode the last 4km at 100%. With 300-350m to go, I was able to savour the win."

Contador, who dislocated his shoulder during a crash on Thursday's Stage 6, said: "The last climb was not too steep but the first hour of racing was frenetic, with 30 or 35 riders in the front group. That made the last climb harder.

"Today was a very important test for me. Today was crucial. I saved it without problems, and I'm happy. The Giro d'Italia has just started. I'm pretty confident. I'll go better on the bike tomorrow. Time is on my side.

"My shoulder injury affects me during the race and outside it," he went on. "I sleep with my arm immobilised, which is uncomfortable, but I couldn't say in percentage terms how much it affects my performance.

"There are only a few days to go until the time trial. We will have to do some tests, because I usually race time trials with my arms close together and I may need to change position."

Asked whether pain defines greatness in cycling, he said: "That's a philosophical question. I can tell you that, during yesterday's stage, I had a dislocated shoulder, I'd been racing for four hours, and I looked at how far we still had to go, the wind, and I thought: another four hours.

"In the end we rode more than 270 kilometres. I thought: this is what cycling is."