Danny van Poppel finished third in the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España. The sprinter from Team LottoNL-Jumbo battled with Alejandro Valverde and world champion Peter Sagan for the stage win. GC riders Steven Kruijswijk and George Bennett both finished in the top 20.

“Placing third behind Valverde and Sagan isn’t that bad", Van Poppel said. “I wanted to start my sprint calmly because the last 150 metres were going to be difficult. But when I saw Valverde passing me, I knew it was going to be hard. The strongest rider won.”

His teammates brought him in the right position in the last kilometres. “The team did a great job. This week, we’re all riding really well. We’re a real team”, Van Poppel added.

Sunday will be completely different. Tthe stage will end on a mountain of hors categorie.