The GC had already been shaken up at the start of the day, when Team Sunweb pulled Barguil – sat 13^th overall overnight – from the race, for riding for himself and defying team orders.

The Tour de France King of the Mountains is leaving the team this winter to join Fortuneo-Oscaro, and had wanted to ride for himself, not the team, in the mountains.

For those still in the race, there was another nervous start to proceedings, not helped by early crashes in the peloton before a breakaway belatedly went clear after 35km.

Among the 21 riders in the breakaway was Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), who started the day with little more than a three-minute deficit to Froome.

It meant plenty of work on the front of the bunch for Team Sky, and when they turned the screw on the run-in to the final climb the peloton was trimmed to size.

After the original breakaway had crossed the line in dribs and drabs, Contador then led Froome across 1’27” behind – gaining 17 seconds on Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Fabio Aru (Astana) and Johan Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott).

Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) was in the next group, 11 seconds further back, while brother Simon eventually finished 34th – another 40 seconds later.

It means Froome’s now leads by 28 seconds from Chaves, with Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) in third at 41 seconds.

Vuelta a Espana 2017: stage eight – result

1) Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) – QuickStep Floors – 4.37.55hrs
2) Jan Polanc (SVN) – UAE Team Emirates +2”
3) Rafal Majka (POL) – Bora-hansgrohe – ST
4) Serge Pauwels (BEL) – Dimension Data +26”
5) Nelson Oliveira (POR) – Movistar +28”
6) Michel Kreder (NED) – Aqua Blue Sport +32”
7) Maxime Monfort (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal – ST
8) Bart de Clercq (BEL) – Lott-Soudal +34”
9) Alberto Losada (ESP) – Katusha-Alpecin +37
10) Emanuel Buchmann (GER) – Bora-hansgrohe +1.04

General classification

1) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky – 32.26.13hrs
2) Johan Esteban Chaves (COL) – Orica-Scott +28”
3) Nicolas Roche (IRL) – BMC Racing +41”
4) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Bahrain-Merida +53”
5) Tejay van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing +58”
6) Fabio Aru (ITA) – Astana +1.06
7) David de la Cruz (ESP) – QuickStep Floors +1.08
8) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-Scott +1.18
9) Michael Woods (CAN) – Cannondale-Drapac +1.41
10) Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) – Katusha-Alpecin +1.57