Vuelta a Espana: Van Genechten wins stage 7

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Belgium's Jonas van Genechten (IAM Cycling) won stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana after another intense day of racing in northern Spain and a hectic chase in the finale of the stage to Puebla de Sanabria.

A late two-rider attack by Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) looked set to make it to the finish but they were caught and passed with 100 metres to go, with van Genechten emerging from the wheels to win the sprint. Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff) finished second, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) third and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) fourth.

Darwin Atapuma (BMC) finished with the leaders and so retained his red leader's jersey before the big mountain stages of the weekend. However Valverde picks up four more bonus seconds and is now just 8 seconds off the race lead. Froome is third at 42 seconds, with Quintana at 48 seconds.

A late crash saw Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) go down after a touch of wheels. He was given the same time as his overall rivals because the crash occurred in the final three kilometres, but he seemed to have suffered road rash on several points on his left side.

Like many of his IAM Cycling teammates, van Genechten is looking for a new team for 2017 and was overjoyed to win a Grand Tour stage.

"At the Vuelta the chances of a victory are really small. You have to fight every stage and I tried on stage 1 and 2. This was one of my goals and tried to just stay with the bunch today. This is the biggest win, for sure," van Genechten said.

How it unfolded

The profile of the rolling 158.5 km stage and the heat of the Spanish summer again produced another day of hard racing in one of the most remote areas of the country.

The attacks came thick and fast almost from the start, as riders tried to get in the break of the day, hoping the sprinters' teams and the overall contenders would let hem go. Eight riders eventually made the early move but they would face a hard day out front.

The eight were Victor Campenaerts (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Vegard Laengen (IAM Cycling) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis). They opened a gap of 3:22 over the top of the early Puerto de Allariz climb after 20km but the peloton refused to let them go.

The eight continued to fight on with several teams sharing the steady chase and keeping the gap below four minutes. BMC did some of the chase with Darwin Atapuma leading the race but they later moved off the front, with Trek-Segafredo and Giant-Alpecin sharing the workload as they hoped for a stage win opportunity. The overall contenders sat carefully in the peloton with their teammates, trying to save their legs for the important mountain stages at the weekend. Team Sky suffered a blow, however, when Michal Kwiatkowski climbed off. The British team said the former world champion had been suffering with lower back problems. Trek-Segafredo's Niccolo Bonifazio also quit the race as an intense first week of racing left its mark.

The break made it over the category three Alto de Fumaces climb after 80km, with Mate taking the climber's point. However the rolling roads took their toll with the peloton awaking to lead the chase. Martin Velits was on the front for Etixx-QuickStep thinking of teammate Gianni Meersman's sprint chances and Gianluca Brambilla. Other teams joined in the chase and upped the pace, condemning the break of the day.

Astana turn aggressive

Astana took to the front with 50km to go and quickly ate into the lead of the break, with Tinkoff and Movistar sat in their sky blue slipstream. The race came back together with 43km to go, just before the Alto de Padornelo climb.

As the climb began, Astana revealed their hand with Dario Cataldo surging away alone on the barren climb. He was soon joined by teammate Sanchez, Brambilla, Clarke and Mate to form an interesting move. Other counter-attacks were swept up as the peloton kept hopes of a sprint alive but the move opened a 30-second gap as the riders gave it their all. Brambilla started the stage just 1:22 down overall and so was a danger to Atapuma's race lead as well as a hindrance to the other riders in the break.

Cataldo seemed to sacrifice his chances for the good of the Astana team but the peloton used the speed of the fast descent to bring the break back into sight. The sprinters' teams sacrificed themselves in the hope of a catch and with 10km to go it seemed certain. But Clarke and Sanchez had other ideas and tried their hand.

The peloton seemed happy to have reeled in Brambilla and let the two open a 15-second lead on the fast valley to the finish. Lotto Soudal and Tinkoff lead the chase behind. The gap was still 10 seconds with 1.5km to go but the 500-metre uphill finish proved fatal. Contador crashed in the heat of the chase and then the peloton pounced on Clarke and Sanchez in sight of the line. Van Genechten did not hesitate and won the sprint well. 

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