Vuelta a Espana: Valverde wins stage 7

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Alejandro Valverde (Team Movistar) won stage 7 of the Vuelta a Espana after another brutal day of racing. The world champion edged out Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) with Miguel Angel Lopez and Nairo Quintana finishing six seconds down on yet another summit finish.

The punishing day of racing ended at Mas de la Costa with Lopez moving back into the leader’s red jersey with Roglic second overall, at six seconds. 

Overnight leader Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Merida) cracked completely with 26km to go and lost several minutes on a day that saw Valverde, Quintana, Roglic and Lopez proving that they are the strongest riders in this year’s race.

The four riders moved clear on the final climb with Quintana relentlessly attacking as several riders began to struggle. Even Valverde began to lose ground due to his teammate's constant attacking but the veteran Spaniard recovered and move to the front of the race inside the closing stages. When he accelerated to the line only Roglic could go with him, but there was little contest at the line with Valverde enjoying enough time to celebrate his win. 

Valverde's win helped him jump to third overall after almost a week of racing.

And it was those teams, of Movistar, Astana and Jumbo-Visma, who took the responsibility of splitting the race inside the finale. In truth, there was never any let-up, even when a dangerous break moved clear in the opening stages of the race.

How it unfolded

Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale), Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Storer (Mitchelton-Scott) and Sebastian Henao (Team Ineos) established a healthy lead over the peloton in the opening kilometers but even with around five minutes the chances of the break decided the stage for a second consecutive day were slim.

On the Puerto del Salto del Cabello the gap was down to 2:17 before Gilbert and Sergio Henao moved clear of their struggling companions. The leading pair were soon joined by Sebastian Henao and Gianluca Brambilla but with Movistar setting a furious pace at the front of the peloton, the break's advantage was always set to move in one direction.

Quintana and Valverde were well-positioned as the main field ticked off the penultimate climb but the same could not be said of Teuns, who was sent packing with just over 25km to go – his efforts in yesterday's break clearly coming back to haunt him. He wasn't the only rider to struggle with several potential top-ten contenders slipping from the GC group, including David de la Cruz, who had also gained time on stage 6.

Astana and Jumbo Visma enter the game

Gilbert threw in a token attack with 12km that Sergio Henao once more followed but by then the gap was down to a slender few seconds. With Movistar tiring it was time for Lopez's Astana to make their case. They virtually sprinted towards the final climb, before Jumbo-Visma chipped in with valiant turns on the front.

Gilbert and Henao were caught on the lower slopes of the final climb, before Quintana made his first attack with 3.2km to go. The Colombian, already a stage winner in this year's race, attacked several times as he peppered his rivals with a series of accelerations. Each time he would check back to catch the sight of Valverde grimly hanging on, while Rafal Majka and several other climbers looked to limit their losses.

As the leading four of Roglic, Lopez, Valverde and Quintana entered the final kilometer it was Quintana who drifted towards the back of the group. Roglic put up a fight when Valverde kicked for the line but the Jumbo Visma rider lacked the kick of the veteran Spaniard and was forced to settle for second.