Ben O'Connor came through his first day as Vuelta a España leader with the red jersey safely on his shoulders despite Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe making it abundantly clear that they would stop at nothing to try and make the Australian lose his top spot overall.
Most race observers expected that Primož Roglič would reserve his troops for the two upcoming battles in the mountains of southern Spain, with stage 9 through the foothills of Sierra Nevada by far the most dangerous challenge of the Vuelta's first week.
