Philipsen lunges to win in Zaragoza
For Elia Viviani, it wasn't to be for a tenth victory in a Grand Tour. The veteran Italian sprinter was relegated from second place after the race jury ruled he had deviated from his sprinting line on Stage 8 of the Vuelta a Espana.
"It's painful, you look at the line in front of you and it's getting closer and closer but when a guy like Philipsen is around it's never done until the line. It's even more painful given the job of the team did, they were amazing and put me in the perfect position.
The disappointment will stick with me for a while. Especially since there aren't many sprint opportunities left in this Vuelta. This was a missed chance, a real one.
It was a bit confusing trying to figure out where I should start my sprint. But you can look back at a race like this and think of a hundred different ways to have approached it. Maybe I would have won in any of those race. But in the moment, you have to follow your instinct."
-Elia Viviani (Lotto Cycling)
"I'm up there every day for the sprints. I felt quite fast today, but it was really chaotic in the last few kilometers, In the end I started too far back. When I went with about four or five hundred to go, I already knew it wasn't for the win, maybe just top three. The door opened with a couple hundred to go, but by then I'd already done a 200-meter sprint, so I was at my limit."
-Ethan Vernon (IPT) was promoted one spot following the relegation of Elia Viviani.
Look back: Stage 7
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