Vuelta a Espana: Chris Froome extends Vuelta lead as Alaphilippe takes stage win

Froome is aiming to become the third man to win the Vuelta and the Tour de France in the same year

Britain's Chris Froome extended his lead at the Vuelta a Espana as France's Julian Alaphilippe took victory on the 199km stage eight.

Froome, 11 seconds in front at the start of the day, attacked his rivals late in the day on a testing climb prior to a steep descent.

Colombia's Esteban Chaves could not keep pace and lost 17 more seconds.

Alaphilippe came out on top in a three-way sprint as he claimed his first Grand Tour stage win.

"It's incredible. I didn't expect I would win the stage," he said after holding off Jan Polanc and Rafal Majka.

Froome, who is aiming to become the third man to win the Vuelta and the Tour de France in the same year, was one minute 27 seconds behind Alaphilippe as he finished 14th on the stage.

Only home favourite Alberto Contador could stick with him on the steep gradients and the pair were 15 seconds ahead of the other general classification contenders.

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Stage eight results:

1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Quick-Step Floors) 4hrs 37mins 55secs

2. Jan Polanc (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +2secs

3. Rafal Majka (Pol/BORA-hansgrohe) +2secs

4. Serge Pauwels (Bel/Team Dimension Data) +26secs

5. Nelson Oliveira (Por/Movistar Team) +28secs

6. Michel Kreder (Ned/Aqua Blue Sport) +32secs

7. Maxime Monfort (Bel/Lotto-Soudal) +32secs

8. Bart De Clercq (Bel/Lotto-Soudal) +34secs

9. Alberto Losada (Spa/Katusha-Alpecin) +37secs

10. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger/BORA-hansgrohe) +1min 04secs

Overall standings after stage eight:

1. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 27hrs 46mins 51secs

2. Esteban Chaves (Col/Orica-Scott) +28secs

3. Nicolas Roche (Ire/BMC) +41secs

4. Vicenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) +53secs

5. Tejay Van Garderen (US/BMC)+58secs

6. Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana) +1min 06secs

7. David De La Cruz (Spa/Quick-Step Floors) +1min 08secs

8. Adam Yates (GB/Orica-Scott) +1min 18secs

9. Michael Woods (Can/Cannondale) +1min 41secs

10. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha-Alpecin) +1min 57secs