Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) scored his second stage win of the Vuelta a España and extended his green jersey lead on stage 7, sprinting to glory from a vastly reduced lead group in Cordoba.
The Belgian beat Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) to the line to conclude the 180.5km stage after the GC favourites and in particular Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe had blown the peloton apart over the late climb of the Alto del 14%, 25.5km from the finish.
Attacks and counters flew on the descent and the flat run back into town, but Van Aert was always the favourite to prevail from a group shorn of the other top sprinters in the race.
The final attacker, Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) was caught 200 metres from the line, leaving Van Aert in the perfect spot to launch for his second win of the week. He easily held off Vacek to cross the line first, while Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma) sped past Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) to round out the podium a little further back.
The result means that Van Aert now enjoys an extended points classification lead, with 203 points to the 162 of second-placed Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who finished in 48th place.
“I expected it to be a way bigger group to go to the finish line. I knew the final climb on the circuit was hard, but I didn’t expect that the race would explode like this,” Van Aert said after his win.
“On the top, I found myself alone with Sepp Kuss in the front group, so it was really difficult to manage, but Sepp did an amazing job. I don’t know if people realise what it’s like when you’re below 60kg and you do that kind of pull on the flat. I had goosebumps on the wheel and I just wanted to finish it off, so this is a really big one.
“I thought maybe they’d let me go if I surprise, but I saw UAE chasing behind me and I didn’t want to take the risk to go in the front but still get caught by the others. So later on, I could count on Sepp who did a magnificent job.
“In our team, it’s not only about winning but about performing as a team and making challenging plans. A part of that is that everybody dares to sacrifice himself for the others. The defending champion of this race pulling for you is a huge example of our team philosophy and because of that, I’m so proud.”
On the way up the day’s only climb, both Visma-Lease A Bike – seeking to shed Van Aert’s sprint rivals – and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe – hoping to hurt some GC rivals – forced the pace, shattering the peloton in the process.
The race’s major contenders came over the top all in the lead group, though previous sprint winners Groves and Pavel Bittner (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) were both out of the reckoning, the latter falling after a touch of wheels at the top of the climb.
Those at the top of GC crossed the line together among the lead group, barring Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who finished in a group 19 seconds back. The German’s teammate Primož Roglič did manage to claw six seconds back on overall leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), however, grabbing the bonus seconds over the top to reduce the red jersey deficit to 4:45.
How it unfolded
Following Ben O’Connor’s breakaway heroics and the resulting GC upheaval of stage 6 in Yunquera, stage 7 of the Vuelta a España was always going to be a more sedate affair, with just one classified climb lying on the 180.2km route between Archidona and Cordoba.
The stage would feature 1,900 metres of climbing including the late challenge of the Alto del 14% (7.4km at 5.6%), which lay 25.5km from the finish.
With just that single second-category climb and an intermediate sprint, coming at the base of the ascent in Cordoba, lying on the stage, there was little incentive for a large breakaway to take off at the start of the day.
In the end, the break wouldn’t even contain more than a single team, with only Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) venturing out into the move after 2km of racing. No other rider joined the Basque rider in his lonely attack, leaving the third-year pro entirely on his own as he made the breakaway for the second time in the opening week.
Behind him, it was no surprise to see sprinters' teams such as Alpecin-Deceuninck (racing for Kaden Groves) and Visma-Lease A Bike (racing for Wout van Aert) take control at the head of the peloton.
Ultimately, there was little to control, though, with a solo breakaway posing little risk at all to those hoping to contest the stage over the day’s late climb.
Isasa’s advantage grew out to a maximum of nine minutes inside the opening 50km of the stage. There was no worry behind on the rolling roads that characterised much of the stage, however, with the sprint squads continuing to lead the peloton as they then worked on gradually closing the gap.
After 70km of action, that gap fell under six minutes, and with 120km done, Isasa lay three minutes up the road. It was all leading to the inevitable, though the 22-year-old did at least last beyond the day’s intermediate sprint before he was brought back into the fold with 38km to run.
On the climb itself, Visma-Lease A Bike massed on the front to push the pace before Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took up the mantle, speeding up once again as the peloton raced into the final 4km of the hill and the last 30km of the day.
The German team strung out the peloton on the way up, thinning out the group as sprinters sought to hang on, or at least stay close enough to chase back on before the run back into Cordoba.
Inside the final 2km of the climb, the GC men came to the fore, led by Red Bull men Aleksandr Vlasov and Primož Roglič, as the inclines hit 14%. There have been no major ructions, though names including Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) were notable names dropping backwards.
Over the top of the climb, Roglič nipped through to grab six bonus seconds ahead of Sepp Kuss with four and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) on two. Not too far back from the GC names, among a group chasing back on, Kaden Groves was unlucky and hit the deck after touching Nairo Quintana’s (Movistar) back wheel. The Australian was quickly back up and running, but the delay meant his chances of catching back on were effectively over.
Up front, Visma-Lease A Bike and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale sought to control the situation, though Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) sought to play spoiler with a solo attack into the final 20km. The Spaniard took a 20-second lead on the way down with the chase effort behind making little indent into his advantage.
At the bottom of the descent, 11km from the line, Wout van Aert took matters into his own hands to chase Soler down. He’d bring the gap down to 10 seconds but provoke counterattacks in the process.
Van Aert’s teammate Kuss headed back to the front for the final 8km, though the American got little help from others in the group. His work paid off, though, and Soler was finally brought back 3.5km from the finish.
With no sprint trains present to control the run-in, riders including David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) attempted to go clear inside the final 2km, with the latter persevering into the closing 250 metres.
Vlasov led the chase with Van Aert on his wheel, the group coming to within touching distance of Sivakov just in time for the launch of the finishing sprint. There was little doubt about the outcome of that dash for the line, with Van Aert the strongest sprinter standing both on paper and in reality.
He led from the front to score the 48th victory of his career and fourth of the season, while behind him it was Vacek and Miquel who sped to fill out the remainder of the podium placings.
Results
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