Hola and welcome to stage 7 of the Vuelta a España!
We have a new leader of the Vuelta - Norway’s Torstein Træen. Træen has a lead of 31 seconds over his fellow escapee from yesterday's stage, Bruno Armirail in second, and 2:33 over Jonas Vingegaard, the first of the ‘real’ GC contenders.
That’s a big lead, but today is a big stage, and there’s lots of mountains for him to survive. Træen himself says he has ‘no idea’ how long he can keep the red jersey, but will give it his best shot.
The riders are on the move, taking off from the unofficial start for what is an unusually long neutralised section.
A first look at Torstein Træen in red.
We have another withdrawal before the start of the stage - Cristián Rodríguez of Arkéa - B&B Hotels.
Here are today’s jersey wearers at the start - yesterday’s stage winner Jay Vine in the white and blue as mountain’s leader; Torstein Træen in red; Mads Pedersen in green; and Giulio Pellizzari in white.
Giving away the red jersey yesterday was all part of the plan for Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike, according to Matteo Jorgenson. The American said at the finish yesterday that they were ‘really happy’ with the outcome, made even better by the fact their GC rivals UAE Team Emirates XRG lost one of their GC leaders Juan Ayso as a GC candidate.
On to today’s stage, which is one of the hardest of the whole Vuelta. There are four mountains in total, and the toughest has been kept until last, the category one Cerler. If yesterday’s stage was a first real, tentative GC sort-out, the race could burst into life today.
The riders will begin racing any moment now.
And they're off!
OFFICIAL START
A tentative start to the race. It took over a kilometre for the first attack to be made, by a Lotto rider.
That Lotto rider has been caught, and now an Alpecin rider leads alone.
Edward Planckaert is the Alpecin rider leading, while Eduardo Sepulveda was the Lotto rider who put in the first attack.
Gal Glivar Pierre Thierry and Jonas Gregaard have all joined Planckaert in the front group.
That's two Alpecin riders in Planckaert and Gilvar.
That quartet has a gap, but only of a few seconds.
180KM TO GO
Planckaert has been distenced from the other three.
Any attacks made and moves formed in these early kilometres may become moot shortly, once they start climbing the first mountain of the day, Port del Cantó. It’s a big one, lasting 24.9km at an average of 4.4%, and so will be where the stronger climbers can ensure they get into the day’s break.
The riders have begun the climb.
Here come the attacks out of the peloton - three riders slip clear at the start of the climb.
A chase group has also formed behind the 3 leaders and ahead of those attackers out of the peloton.
Romo, Garcia Cortina, Knight, Denz and Eddy are all there.
Interetingly, Juan Ayuso is riding at the front of the peloton. It's unclear whether he's trying to attack, or setting a pace for UAE.
This is an attack from Ayuso - he has about 10 riders with him, and a gap of a few seconds over the peloton.
That Ayuso group is the front group, having absorbed those who attacked earlier.
UAE seem out to cause chaos today. Vine and Soler are also in this group, as well as Ayuso.
The group has been caught by the peloton, but Ayuso has attacked again.
Ayuso leads alone, with a chase group of three formed behind him. The rest of the peloton is together behind them.
That chase group of three is now a chase group of seven, with more trying to join from out of the peloton.
The chase group has been caught by the peloton, but Ayuso remains clear out front.
Visma-Lease a Bike are the team pulling at the front of the peloton, and don't seem keen by the idea of Ayuso being in the break.
Ayuso has a lead of 25 seconds, but Visma are for now preventing it from getting any higher.
170KM TO GO
Juan Ayuso leading the race.
Some more riders tried a conter-attack from the peloton, including Jay Vine, but have been shut down.
The attacks keep coming, with Vine trying again. Visma are being put under pressure.
Vine has five riders with him in a counter-attack move.
Ayuso's lead had come down to just over 10 seconds, but is back up to 20 seconds as he perseveres up this climb.
The Vine chase group has grown a little.
The peloton and Vine group have merged, although Vine himself isn't giving up yet and continues to ride at the front.
The peloton is much smaller than at the start of the climb, with many riders dropped.
Vine has another gap, and has brought three riders with him.
Picnic, Groupama and EF are the teams of the three riders with Vine.
Still Ayuso leads the race, by about 20 seconds.
Again Vine’s attempt has been shut down, by the Visma-led peloton.
We're halfway up the climb, and still Ayuso is the only rider with a gap on the peloton.
Raúl García Pierna has attacked out of the peloton and has a gap.
Ayuso leads, by 25 seconds. Raúl García Pierna is second behind him, and the peloton is still together behind him - for now.
160KM TO GO
Activity has quietened down in the peloton, with the attacks ceasing for now. Raúl García Pierna has managed to stay ahead of the peloton, though.
As we speak, the attacks recommence with a Decathlon and an EF rider giving it a go.
Peters and Quinn are the two attackers.
They've been joined by a couple of other riders.
More attacks out of the peloton, including from Vervaeke.
Vervaeke has passed that chase group, and is now third on the road behind Ayuso and Garcia Pierna.
More riders have joined Vervaeke.
The 5-man Vervaeke group has caught Raúl García Pierna .
And that group have now all been brought back into the peloton. So once again we're back in the situation we were in - Ayuso leading, and the peloton all together.
Mads Pedersen has attacked! That's quite something considering he was dropped out of the peloton earlier on this climb.
Pedersen is even closing in on Ayuso - he can see him up the road.
Meanwhile another chase group of 4 has formed behind Pedersen.
Former mountains classification leader Nicolau is in that move - he must have the KOM points in mind, coming up in just over a kilometre.
Pedersen is no longer closing in on Ayuso - he's started to struggle while Ayuso is soaring to the summit.
Ayuso reaches the top first, followed by Pedersen, whole Nicolau and Quinn sprint for third.
KOM - PORT DEL CANTO
Pedersen has been brought back by the group of chasers, which now has about 15 riders in it. They're 15 seconds behind Ayuso.
150KM TO GO
Ayuso has been caught by the chase group. He must have slowed down as he started descending.
The riders in the group that caught Ayuso and is now leading the race are - Pedersen, Vine, Frigo, García Pierna, Quinn, Van der Lee, Nicolau, Vermaerke, Howson, Sepúlveda, Rolland and Tejada.
That 13-man group leads the peloton by 38 seconds - the biggest anyone has had all stage. Could this be the break of the day?
140KM TO GO
There are some groups in between the leaders and the peloton.
The riders in between the leaders and the peloton have joined to form one chase group, of about 10 riders.
The chase group is closer to the peloton (17 seconds) than it is the leaders (35 seconds).
Movistar are the main team represented in this chase group, with Castrillo and Romo both present.
It seems more likely the chasers will be caught by the peloton than join the leaders. They're 40 seconds behind the latter, and only 12 seconds ahead of the former.
130KM TO GO
Here are the updated KOM rankings after the day's first mountain. Quinn moves up ahead of Nicolau after beating him in the sprint, while Vine retains the overall lead despite failing to add to his tally.
The chase group now have been caught by the peloton, leaving just the 12 leaders out in front.
The question now is whether the peloton is happy to let the remaining breakaway group a gap. Red jersey leaders Bahrain-Victorious were the team who worked to bring back the chase group - are they happy with the make-up of this group?
The answer appears to be yes - the pace has eased, and the gap has grown to 1:15.
The gap is growing, up to 1:30. Still Bahrain lead the peloton, but at a pace to control, rather than chase, the break.
Almost two minutes for the leaders, as they ride the valley approaching the second climb. For the first time all day, things have settled down.
120KM TO GO
The highest placed rider on GC in this break is Raúl García Pierna at 4:57, followed by Marco Frigo at 6:10. That gives Bahrain some leeway in their defence of Torstein Træen’s red jersey, but they’ll still have to do work to quell their threat.
The gap's grown to over 3 minutes. There's no sense of urgency in the peloton for now.
110KM TO GO
Easily the most dangerous looking team in the break is UAE Team Emirates XRG. With both yesterday’s stage winner Jay Vine, and one of the best climbers in the peloton in Juan Ayuso, it’s difficult to see how anyone else in this break could stop them.
The breakaway group.
One rider who could challenge the UAE pair is Harold Tejada. He’s one of the best climbers on paper in this breakaway group, having finished in the top overall at the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice earlier this year.
About 4 minutes for the leaders over the peloton. The road is about to tilt uphill again, ahead of the official start of the category two Puerto de la Creu de Perves, coming up in about 20km.
100KM TO GO
It’s still very relaxed in the peloton. The Bahrain riders at the front are all taking a moment to feed from their musettes.
A strange moment towards the back of the peloton, as Fernando Barceló’s saddle falls off. Thankfully he avoided injury, and has got himself a new bike.
One of the most eye-catching names in the break is Mads Pedersen. As surprisingly good a climber as he can be, you still would have thought this would be too mountainous a start for the Dane.
The gap is at 3:50. It feels too early to determine what kind of a chance the break has of succeeding, but it certainly has a chance.
90KM TO GO
Juan Ayuso indicated at the finish yesterday that his losing time was less a case of bad legs than it was him not rinding for GC, and the way he attacked and rode solo for so long on the first mountain of today’s stage suggests that’s true - and that he has the form to compete for the stage win today.
The gradient has increased a little, and a few riders are being dropped from the peloton.
Although the official start of the Puerto de la Creu de Perves is still over 2km away, it won’t feel that way to the riders, who have been climbing for a while and are on tough gradients already.
Apologies - the riders were indeed already on the climb, and 2.5km away from the top rather than the start.
And with the summit approaching, Quinn, Vine and Nicolau are sprinting for the points…and Vine takes it!
KOM - PUERTO DE LA CREU DE PERVES
Vine takes 5 points, Nicolau 3 points, and Quinn 1 point.
The peloton have reached the top of the climb, about 3:45 after the leaders.
Here are the new KOM classifications. 4 of the top 6 are in this break, so we expect more hotly-contested battles for the remaining points on offer today.
Mads Pedersen is leading the breakaway down the descent, a pace that has helped them grow their lead to four minutes.
70KM TO GO
Meanwhile in the peloton, it’s still Bahrain who lead the peloton down the descent. Visma have enjoyed a quiet day without responsibilities, at least since shutting down some of the attempted moves at the start of the day - this is what they gave the red jersey away for.
They're on the valley road leading the day's third climb, and the gap remains a healthy one, at 4:20.
60KM TO GO
Torstein Træen, enjoying his first - and what he hopes won't be his last - day in red.
News coming though that Burgos Burpellet BH's Daniel Cavia has abandoned. No sign that it was a result of a crash.
Looking ahead to the likely GC battle coming up, there are still multiple riders in contention despite yesterday’s sort-out.
Behind the four riders who catapulted up the rankings after being in the successful break yesterday (Træen, Armirail, Fortunato and Vervaeke), there are 8 riders within 30 seconds of Jonas Vingegaard’s time, and another 6 within one minute.
Time for the penultimate climb of the day, the Coll de Espina, which rises at 5.7% for 7.2km.
The gap's come down a bit on this climb under the pace being set by Bahrain. 3.5km from the top, it's at just over 4 minutes.
50KM TO GO
This could be a big day in Jonas Vingegaard’s red jersey bid. While he was in defensive mode yesterday, following moves rather than making them, the increased difficulty of today’s parcours could encourage him to try and land a big blow on his rivals and gain some time.
Jay Vine attacks, 1km from the summit.
Presumably this is for the KOM points, but yesterday he used such an attack to carry on and solo to the finish for the stage win.
Frigo and Quinn are chasing Vine.
Vine takes the points, followed by Quinn and Frigo.
KOM - COLL DE L'ESPINA
Those three have come together after the summit, but Vine doesn't seem interested in pushing on with them.
Frustrated with Vine’s disinterest in helping, Quinn and Frigo have knocked off the pace. They’re thus caught by the rest of the break.
The peloton has reached the top of the climb, much closer to the leaders than when they began it. They’re now just 3:30 adrift - the break’s chances of contesting the stage win have taken a hit.
The breakaway riders are digging deep, and stopped their lead, reducing more on the descent. But it's not getting any higher, either, staying at about 3:30.
40KM TO GO
Here are the new KOM rankings, with just one more climb to come:
The break is on the steeper part of the descent now, and are being led by Pedersen. While he's been struggling on some of the ascents, he's generally been at the front during the other terrain.
While Ayuso and Vine are up the road looking for the stage win, their UAE teammate João Almeida will be riding his own race for the GC. He’s now the team’s sole GC candidate, and looked in good shape yesterday, shutting down the threatening move by Vingegaard. He’ll likely be the rider the Dane is most worried about.
Pedersen's work has seen the break's lead grow back to over four minutes. He won't be worried about surviving to the finish, but rather until the intermediate sprint coming up in under 20km.
30KM TO GO
He might not be interested in the stage win, but Pedersen’s work is giving the break renewed hope of competing for it. If they can continue to grow their lead before the final climb, they’re in with a great chance - especially elite climbers Ayuso and Vine.
Giulio Ciccone was the main aggressor in the group of favourites yesterday, going clear from the rest with Vingegaard before being caught. He’s clearly in great shape, and will surely want to maximise that today by gaining some time.
Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe are embedded in the peloton, and are looking like one of the stronger teams in the GC race. They have both Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari (in the white jersey) up there in ninth and tenth respectively.
The gap's steadied, at around four minnutes. That could well be enough for the top climbers in the break to hold off the GC men in the peloton on the climb for the stage win, but they'll still want more before the start of the climb.
20KM TO GO
It's still Bahrain who are doing the work in the peloton rather than any of the other GC teams. They're keeping the break in check, but not making any more inroads, with the gap still at about four minutes.
Pedersen has clipped off the front of the break, to pick up the points at the intermediate sprint.
Pedersen takes the points at the sprint, and slows down again.
Here is the new virtual points classification:
Now the sprint's done, it's all about the climb - and the riders are about to start it.
Already the climb has claimed Pedersen and Nicolau as victims, both of them dropped from the break.
Here come Visma-Lease a Bike! They've taken over from Bahrain at the front of the peloton, as they're about to start the climb.
Juan Ayuso makes his move already, 11km from the finish at the Cerler's summit.
AYUSO ATTACKS
Frigo has bridged up to Ayuso.
The peloton has already thinned out a lot, as the grupetto forms out the back of it.
There are around maybe 40 / 50 riders left in the peloton.
Ayuso and Frigo lead the rest of the break by 25 seconds.
10KM TO GO
Ayuso attacks again, and he's gapped Frigo.
He's got a big gap, too. With 9.5km left to ride, that might be the attack that wins him the stage - depending on how hard the peloton rides.
Talking of which, the Visma-led peloton are now 3:10 behind Ayuso.
Quinn was the third rider in the road, but has just been caught by a group make up of Rolland, Tejada, García Pierna and Vermaerke.
García Pierna attacks out of that group, and is closing down on Frigo.
Vine sat up earlier, and has allowed himself to be brought back into the peloton. His priority today was picking up KOM points, rather than the stage or helping out Almeida.
García Pierna has caught Frigo, but the pair are a whole 30 seconds behind Ayuso already.
Here's the moment Ayuso made his first attack.
Ayuso's lead over the chasing pair is growing, to 45 seconds, and staying steady to the peloton, at just over three minutes.
It's still a long line of Vima riders that's leading the peloton.
The work from Visma has the peloton down to little more than 20 riders.
Mikel Landa is one of the riders being dropped. This could put pay to any GC hopes he might have.
UAE are making a move in the peloton. Marc Soler takes over at the front, with Almeida on his wheel.
54 seconds for Ayuso over Frigo and García Pierna, and 3 minnutes over the peloton.
5KM TO GO
Soler leads the peloton, followed by Almeida, Vingegaard, Kuss, Ciccone, Bernal, the red jersey, Pidcock, and only about ten other riders.
Pellizzari is at the back, seemingly struggling to hold on.
Soler swings off, and here's Almeida's move.
ALMEIDA ATTACKS
Only Vingegaard, Kuss, Ciccone and Bernal have followed Almeida.
Now Almieda, Vingegaard and Ciccone have a small gap on Bernal and Kuss.
O'Connor is leading the group behind which has fewer than ten riders in it.
Kuss and Bernal have caught Vingegaard, Almieda and Ciccone, and Kuss is now setting the pace.
Træen is still in the chase group behind, meaning his red jersey is safe for now.
The Træen chase group has caught the Vingegaard quintet.
Meanwhile the stage is heading to Ayuso - 2km to ride, he leads Frigo and Garica Pierna by over a minute, with the peloton only a little less than 3 minutes behind.
Frigo has dropped García Pierna, but is likely only riding for second place.
The red jersey group is getting bigger, with some dropped riders returning. There are about 15 riders in it.
Still missing from it though is Tiberi and Gaudu.
Ayuso's into the final kilometre, and affords himself a fist bump to the camera moto.
1KM TO GO
Victory for Juan Ayuso, bouncing back just 24 hours from the end of his GC bid.
AYUSO WINS
Meanwhile Ayuso's teammate Marc Soler has attacked out of the group of favourites.
Frigo arrives home to finish 2nd, a distant 1:15 behind Ayuso.
García Pierna is third, and Tejada is first from the small group of chasers to take fourth.
Soler managed to get a gap, and crosses the line now.
Only a few seconds behind him is the red jersey group, containing about a dozen riders.
Torstein Træen therefore defends the red jersey, without ever coming under much pressure.
Landa has just arrived about a minute behind the red jersey, in a group also containing Buitrago.
Pointedly, Ayuso celebrated the win by putting his fingers in his ears - a definite ‘signal to the haters’ type gesture, from a man who has been talked about a lot in recent months.
Armirail and Vervaeke weren’t in the group of favourites, and thus tumble back out of the top ten on GC. Vingegaard, Almeida and Ciccone all move up three places into 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively, while Fortunato falls to 5th.
The group of favourites riding over the finish line.
Not only did Træen save the red jersey, he didn’t lose a single second of his lead, on what was one of the hardest stages of this year’s race.
Ayuso on the podium, celebrating his stage win - a third in three days for his UAE Team Emirates XRG team.
Thanks for joining us today. Once again it was a stage for the breakaway, with the GC favourites mostly finishing together after none of the attacks succeeded in causing decisive gaps.
Torstein Træen therefore defends the red jersey, and shouldn’t have any problems doing so again tomorrow for what is a break from the mountains and a mostly flat parcours. Undulating roads - and potentially some wind - mean it’s not a guaranteed sprint finish, however; be sure to tune in again tomorrow to follow all the action!
-
'Getting the band back together' - Justin Williams restores L39ION of Los Angeles as Continental squad with Cory Williams, Tyler Williams
Handful of riders from Blazers team move to L39ION for 2026, with women continuing as US domestic elite programme -
'Not fit enough to compete' - Ongoing illness sidelines Fem van Empel from Cyclocross European Championships title defense
World Champion opts for training camp in Spain -
'I know I didn't intend to cheat' – Lenny Martinez looks back on controversial Tour de France sticky bottle which drew criticism from fans and former pros
French rider says he's 'at peace' with infamous moment during second Tour appearance, which saw him fined and the subject of backlash from Thibaut Pinot
-
Wout van Aert mixes motorsports and community bike ride on first trip to California
'It feels pretty weird to have a fan base here as well' says 10-time Tour de France stage winner about popularity in the US -
If like me, you've got a thing for really well-made bike tools, don't miss this excellent deal on our top-rated torque wrench
Our best bike torque wrench, the Pedro's Demi II, is currently available with a hefty $60 saving -
Seven stand-out stories that made their mark on the 2025 gravel season
Live broadcasts at The Traka and Unbound fed the growing appetite for global gravel, while riders like Cameron Jones, Geerike Schreurs, Rob Britton and Nicole Frain found fame
-
Best aero helmets: The fastest helmets, wind-tunnel tested
The best aero helmets add aerodynamics to the protection you already need - don’t leave free speed on the table -
Eight underrated riders who deserve more credit – according to us
The Cyclingnews team weighs in on the riders that deserve to be celebrated more, or are perhaps underrated by the cycling world -
Jayco-AlUla sign Pascal Ackermann to replace Dylan Groenewegen in 2026 sprint lineup
German sprinter joins Covi, Capiot, De Bondt, and Vendrame on list of major signings for next season
