Moncoutié makes decisive break

Moncoutié: Perfect timing

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David Moncoutié won the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España after being part of a five-man break which stayed clear of the peloton.

The Cofidis rider timed his move to perfection, smoothly kicking away from his breakaway companions José Luis Arrieta(AG2R), Assan Bazayev (Astana), Serafín Martínez (Xacobeo) and Johann Tschopp (Bbox - Bouygues) with five kilometres to go.

He crossed the line 54 seconds clear of Martínez, with Tschopp in third.

It was a well deserved victory as Moncoutié had been the catalyst for the break getting away 46 kilometres into the testing 190km route from Villena to Xorret de Catí.

Their advantage swelled to nearly eight minutes at one point and they always looked like having enough time in hand on the peloton.

"It's a fantastic feeling," said Moncoutié after boosting his bid for a third consecutive King of the Mountains title at the Vuelta. "We said beforehand it was important for me to get in the break in order to get points for the mountains classification - that was the plan and it worked well."

Igor Antón (Euskaltel) led home the rest in fifth place and that was enough to put him in the leader's red jersey after Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma - Lotto) lost ground on the final climb up the Alto Xorret del Catí.

The day had started in sombre mood as a minute's silence was observed for Team Sky carer Txema González.

The popular and widely-respected carer died in hospital in Seville on Friday evening, at the age of 43, as a result of a bacterial infection which developed into a sepsis blood infection.

The team announced before the eighth stage that they were withdrawing from the race, with team principal Dave Brailsford saying: "We have considered all the elements very carefully and this is the only decision we could take. It's the right one; to show respect to Txema and to look after our team."