In a dizzying finish, Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) was the fastest sprint of a reduced group and repeated victory in the Vuelta a España 2024, after riding 180.5 kilometers between Archidona and Cordoba in an undulating day. Australian Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) maintained the lead.
After winning on the third day, the 29-year-old Belgian all-rounder came back to win in the group stage ahead of Czech Mathias Vacek (Lidl – Trek) and Spaniard Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma Team), who reported 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
As for the Colombians, the Colombian Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team) was the best of our team in the day, finishing in 8th place with the same time as the winner. The other beetles lost time.
The breakaway of the day was led by Xabier Isasa, who went off on his own and no one else kept him company. The Euskaltel-Euskadi Spaniard built up a big lead of no less than eight minutes, but in the final stage he was neutralized by the peloton.
On the last climb of the day, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe took control, first with Primoz Roglic and then he was relieved a few seconds later by Aleksandr Vlasov. Meanwhile, the fast pace caused many casualties. Not only the sprinters, but also overall riders like Thymen Arensman and Cian Uijtdebroeks.
A kilometer from the top, a few attacks followed on the climb, but no one managed to create a gap. Roglic then sprinted to the bonus seconds at the top of the climb, ahead of Sepp Kuss and Richard Carapaz. The summit was topped by a group of about 30 riders with Van Aert holding on.
In the final stretch, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) tried, but only managed a lead of about twenty seconds. Sepp Kuss was assisted in the chase by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, which allowed them to quickly catch the Spaniard.
With eleven kilometers to go Van Aert attacked from the peloton, but that attempt was unsuccessful. Then David Gaudu and Pavel Sivakov moved, but all failed. In the end it all came down to the bunch, where Wout proved to be the strongest, thus adding his second victory in this Vuelta, consolidating his position in the points classification.
The Iberian round will continue this Saturday with the eighth stage, a 159-kilometer medium-mountain day starting in Úbeda and finishing in Cazorla, which includes two mountain prizes and a third-category summit finish.
La Vuelta Ciclista a España (2.UWT)
Results stage 7 | Archidona – Cordoba (180,5 km)
| 1 | VAN AERT Wout | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 4:15:39 |
| 2 | VACEK Mathias | Lidl – Trek | ,, |
| 3 | MIQUEL Pau | Equipo Kern Pharma | ,, |
| 4 | KÜNG Stefan | Groupama – FDJ | ,, |
| 5 | HERMANS Quinten | Alpecin – Deceuninck | ,, |
| 6 | PACHER Quentin | Groupama – FDJ | ,, |
| 7 | ROTA Lorenzo | Intermarché – Wanty | ,, |
| 8 | TEJADA Harold | Astana Qazaqstan Team | ,, |
| 9 | POOLE Max | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | ,, |
| 10 | BENNETT George | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | O’CONNOR Ben | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 27:44:07 |
| 2 | ROGLIČ Primož | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 4:45 |
| 3 | ALMEIDA João | UAE Team Emirates | 4:59 |
| 4 | MAS Enric | Movistar Team | 5:23 |
| 5 | RODRÍGUEZ Cristián | Arkéa – B&B Hotels | 5:26 |
| 6 | TIBERI Antonio | Bahrain – Victorious | 5:29 |
| 7 | VAN EETVELT Lennert | Lotto Dstny | 5:32 |
| 8 | LIPOWITZ Florian | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 5:35 |
| 9 | GALL Felix | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 5:38 |
| 10 | SKJELMOSE Mattias | Lidl – Trek | 5:49 |
Fuente: Revista Mundo Ciclístico