Vuelta a España stage 7: Juan Ayuso delivers victory with solo charge on Cerler ascent

UAE Team Emirates-XRG tripled up at the Vuelta a España on stage 7 as Juan Ayuso came back from an 11-minute time loss to win solo from the breakaway in Cerler.

The Spaniard dropped out of the GC race after a challenging final climb in Andorra on Thursday, but he jumped clear of a 13-man breakaway group on the closing climb of the 188km stage to claim his seventh victory of 2025.

Ayuso’s win counts as UAE’s 76th of the season and their third in as many days following triumphs in the stage 5 team time trial and on stage 6 by mountain classification leader Jay Vine.

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"It's amazing," Ayuso said later. "After the Giro, when I won my first Grand Tour stage, to win a stage here in La Vuelta, which, for me, is my favourite race. And the way, especially I won today is something I think I'll remember always, and I'm just super proud.

"It's super nice already. The team time trial was very special because it's a victory from everyone and in equal parts. And Jay did an amazing stage yesterday, winning in front of his wife and his child. So that was super special. And today, me.

"We don't have a sprinter, so tomorrow, I think we won't win, but we hope we can carry on like this."

Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) took second place, having earlier matched Ayuso’s first acceleration. He couldn’t stay with the next one, however, and ended his day best of the rest at 1:15 down. García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) rounded out the stage podium at 1:21 down, having raced with Frigo for much of the final climb.

Back in the peloton, there was no real GC movement as all the big names crossed the line together, despite an earlier brief attempt by João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to go clear.

In the end, the top favourites and red jersey Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) finished together at 2:35 down, though Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) did nip off the front to take five seconds with a late attack.

The general classification is shuffled somewhat following stage 7, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) moving to second overall at 2:33 down on Træen. Almeida is up to third place at 2:41 down.

How it unfolded

The seventh stage of the Vuelta a España saw the peloton remain in the mountains for another tough day of climbing and four more classified climbs on the 188km from Andorra la Vella to Cerler.

Along the way, the riders would face 4,200 ascent metres, including the first-category Port del Cantó (24.7km at 4.4%), second-category Puerto de la Creu de Perves (5.7km at 6.3%) and Coll de L’Espina (7.1km at 5.5%), and the first-category closer at Cerler (12.1km at 5.8%).

Following his struggles and major time loss on Thursday’s stage 6, it was no surprise to see Ayuso among the early attackers on the stage as the ascent of Port del Cantó began just 10km into the day.

The Spaniard, now languishing 10 minutes off the race lead, took off early in the climb solo to establish what would eventually become the break of the day. His teammate, stage 6 winner Vine, was another early attacker, as was Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

Ayuso crested the top of the mountain alone with a 12-man group – including Vine and Pedersen – following him. Things would come together down the descent, however.

After 50km of racing, the breakaway of 13 was established at the front. Frigo, García Pierna, Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana), Damien Howson (Q36.5), Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic-PostNL), Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto) and the EF Education-EasyPost pairing of Sean Quinn and Jardi Van der Lee joined the aforementioned trio in the lead.

The gap remained hovering around the minute mark in the valley road after the descent, with Bahrain Victorious working on the front for new race leader Træen. However, that would eventually grow as the riders hit the Creu de Perves, with the break’s advantage stretching to four minutes after mountain classification leader Vine won the sprint for five points over the top.

Little changed down on the other side and on the road to the Coll de L’Espina, with Bahrain continuing at the front, and the gap remaining at around the four-minute mark. At the top, Vine again jumped at the front to add another five points to his haul, while the break remained all together.

At the intermediate sprint just before the final climb, green jersey Pedersen rolled off the front to collect the points before dropping back, while Nicolau also dropped from the break before the final ascent.

As the break began the climb with 12km to go, they held 3:35 on the peloton, now led by Visma-Lease a Bike. It didn’t take long for the first attack from the breakaway, though, as Ayuso took off at the front, taking Frigo with him.

The pair briefly rode at the front together, with García Pierna in pursuit, though at the 9.5km to go marker, Ayuso jumped again to lead solo. He swiftly put time between him and the rest, building a 50-second lead over the next 4km.

Back in the peloton, three minutes down, Ayuso’s teammates Soler and Almeida took over at the front. As the Spaniard neared the 3km marker, Almeida made his move, taking Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) with him, as Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) battled to stay in touch.

Kuss and Ciccone were next to go as the US rider went to the front to set the pace. However, the larger group of dropped riders – including the red jersey Træen – managed to get back in touch.

Up front, Ayuso led by 1:15 heading into the final 2km, while Frigo left García Pierna behind in the chase. He was in trouble on the final run to the line, duly holding on to take yet another win for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

As Ayuso rolled across the line to savour his comeback victory, his teammate and compatriot Soler jumped from the GC group, going solo into the final kilometre to snatch back five seconds at the line.

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