2026 Vuelta a España Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2026 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
The stage started with Uno-X Mobility on the front of the bunch for a minute's silence to Norway's King Harald, who died this morning. Fittingly, it ended with Andreas Leknessund (UXM) offering a second tribute with a solo victory at the ski station of Valdelinares, which was further cemented by his Norwegian compatriot and teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen (UXM) taking second place ahead of Wout van Aert (TVL).
More than four minutes later, Tadej Pogačar (UEX) gained a few seconds on his GC rivals with a late attack, with Felix Gall (DCT) half a dozen seconds behind and Enric Mas (MOV) another 10 back. Third-placed Primož Roglič (RBH) came in another 13 seconds later, which left Gall just 13 seconds behind him on GC.
Leknessund and Van Aert attacked at kilometre zero in the company of Milan Vader (PQT), who soon lost ground. Counters kept coming from the bunch but just three riders made it across to the leading pair – Johannessen, Alexey Lutsenko (NSN) and Edward Dunbar (PQT) joining them near the top of the opening climb, the cat 2 Puerto El Remolcador.
That trio had been part of a 22-rider chase group, which was never much more than a minute or so behind the leaders. However, there were too many riders in there for a sustained collaboration. When attacks did come from the strongest members of the group on the final climb, it was too late for them to count.
By that point, Leknessund was already clear on his own, having attacked early on the final 9.8km climb. First Lutsenko and then Van Aert both chased the Norwegian, but each was marked closely by Johannessen as Leknessund built a winning lead. Johannessen attacked and dropped Van Aert a kilometre from the line to complete the Uno-X 1-2.
Leknessund's victory was his team's fourth in consecutive Grand Tour appearances going back to last year's Tour de France and their first at the Vuelta on what's their debut appearance in this race.
Back in the GC group, Decathlon CMA CGM Team rode hard to scatter Gall's rivals prior to an attack by the Austrian. When he accelerated, only Pogačar and Mas could follow, the latter struggling to do so. When Pogačar countered, Gall confirmed he was the best of the rest, a good omen for him given the number of similar climbs to Valdelinares that still lie ahead.
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