Belgian cyclist Wout van Aert claimed his second victory in this year’s Vuelta a Espana on Friday, winning the seventh stage in a sprint finish. Meanwhile, Ben O’Connor from Australia keeps his overall lead.
Mathias Vacek of the Czech Republic (Lidl-Trek) finished in second place with Pau Miquel Delgado from Spain (Kern Pharma) close behind in third. The red jersey of O’Connor managed to remain safe among the frontrunners.
Eddie Dunbar from Ireland delivered his best performance so far, finishing 14th, and fellow Irishman Darren Rafferty came home in 121st spot.
The seventh stage was a 180.5km long ride from Archidona to Cordoba with one categorised climb, the Alto del 14 per cent, late in the race. Then, it was 26km to the finish over flat terrain and as expected, the race ended in a bunch sprint.
The red jersey-wearer O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R la Mondiale), who claimed it after winning the sixth stage, now holds a lead of four minutes 45 seconds over three-time former champion Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
A high pace set by Red Bull and Roglic in the climb caused a break in the race with 33 leading cyclists left to fight for the stage’s triumph.
Van Aert was surprised by how the race unfolded. “I thought the finish would involve a much larger group. I was aware that the circuit’s climb was challenging but its winnowing effect was unexpected,” he admitted.
During the race, Australia’s Kaden Groves, the victor of the second stage, suffered a fall while attempting to catch up with the leaders, eliminating one of Van Aert’s main competitors from the final sprint.
Marc Soler from the UAE Team Emirates made an escape attempt on the descent which was initially pursued by Van Aert before he passed the baton to team-mate and defending champion Sepp Kuss.
Kuss acknowledged the challenges of this stage, particularly the daunting pace on the final climb. “We had earmarked this stage for Wout although we knew it would be tough. When I saw Wout was still there on the climb, I knew he was having a strong day. Reeling Soler back in was tough but it feels like I’ve won too,” Kuss revealed.
Soler struggled to keep up and was overtaken, while his team member Pavel Sivakov attempted an early lead but was swiftly caught up. When Van Aert moved to the forefront near the finish line, the outcome was certain.
The Belgian cyclist, Van Aert, who triumphed in the third stage and came second twice, tightened his grip on the points jersey. He expressed gratitude towards his American teammate whose unwavering support contributed majorly to his win.
Van Aert stated, “Sepp performed an exceptional job. I believe people are unaware of the impact of a person under 60kg executing pulls of such nature.”
Roglic, who was expected to dominate the race, only succeeded in making a dent of six seconds in O’Connor’s remarkable lead by earning bonus seconds at the peak of the climb.
With regards to Primoz’s sprint for the bonuses, O’Connor confessed, “I’m slightly helpless against it. Although, to compensate for that much lost time, a significant number of bonuses are required.” – Reuters.
The copyright for this article belongs to Thomson Reuters 2024.