2024 Vuelta a España Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2024 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Van Aert the Fastest
Wout van Aert won the sprint of a reduced peloton in the streets of Córdoba. He outpowered Mathias Vacek and Pau Miquel, while Ben O'Connor stayed in the lead of the general classification.
"I expected a much bigger group to go to the finish line," van Aert said. "I knew the final climb on the circuit was hard but I didn’t expect that the race would explode like this. On the top, I found myself with Sepp [Kuss] alone in the front group. It was really difficult to manage, but Sepp did an amazing job. I don’t know if people realise what it’s like if you’re below 60 kilos and you do that kind of pull on the flat. I had goosebumps on his wheel and I just wanted to finish it off. This is a really big one. I thought maybe they’d let me go if I surprised them [with 12km to go] but I saw UAE chasing behind me and I didn’t want to take the risk to take the front and still get caught by the others. Later on, I could count on Sepp. In our team, it’s not only about winning but performing as a team and making challenging plans, and a part of that is that everybody dares to sacrifice himself for the others. The defending champion of this race is pulling for you; that’s a huge example of our team’s philosophy. I’m so proud because of that."
Xabier Isasa formed a 1-man breakaway. He extended his lead to over eight minutes before the peloton took the reins. The solo rider was caught as the riders moved through Córdoba for the first time.
The pace was high on the Alto del 14%. A group of some 30 riders reached the summit together, where Primoz Roglic won the sprint for time bonuses ahead of Sepp Kuss and Richard Carapaz. Moments later, Kaden Groves went down while trying to regain contact with the first group.
Marc Soler attacked the plateau after the summit, and he came down the mountain with a 20 second lead. Wout van Aert then opened the chase, but he was caught with 9 kilometres to go. Soler’s lead had been halved by then.
Sepp Kuss closed the gap with 3.5 kilometres to go, putting Wout van Aert in the perfect spot. Pavel Sivakov had a go with a late attack, but it fizzled out after the flamme rouge. Van Aert then powered to a commanding victory.
Ben O’Connor keeps the red jersey with a solid lead, though Primoz Roglic closed in a bit thanks to the six bonus seconds.
“It was good! It was a super easy day until the final, to be fair," Ben O’Connor said. "Then, it was explosive, but I felt much better in the heat than I did earlier in the week… It was a nice day. I wasn’t surprised [Primoz Roglic] went for the bonus but it wasn’t like a crazy explosive attack. I’m pretty comfortable with how I felt today and pretty happy with how it turned out. I can’t really do much against Primoz’s sprint for the bonuses but he would have to take a lot of bonuses to make up that time. We’ll see in the big mountains.”\n
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