The Norwegian Andreas Leknessund launched a profitable solo assault on the ultimate climb to the summit end of Aramón Valdelinares to win stage seven of the Vuelta a España, forward of his Uno-X Mobility teammate and compatriot Tobias Johannessen on a day when their country mourned the death of King Harald.
Leknessund made his transfer from a five-rider breakaway 7.5km from the end at the tip of the 149.8km journey from Vall d’Alba, and pulled away to win his first Grand Tour stage on his Vuelta debut.
“It’s been a special day for the team and also for the whole of Norway,” Leknessund stated. “Obviously it’s only a small thing in the bigger picture but still, it makes the day more special.” A minute’s silence was held for King Harald earlier than the stage started in Vall d’Alba, and the Uno-X Mobility group wore black armbands as a mark of respect.
“I didn’t expect it to be this emotional, but for sure there’s so much feelings around this,” Leknessund added. “I’ve been fighting really hard, and it means a lot.”
Johannessen got here in 34sec behind, having left the Belgian Wout van Aert in his wake shut to the end, with the Visma-Lease a Bike rider having to settle for third after he had made the preliminary assault from the off and spent most of the time out in entrance with Leknessund.
Tadej Pogacar, winner of three phases already, was completely happy to sit again in the peloton earlier than pulling away from his basic classification rivals approaching the summit to acquire extra seconds. The Slovene now leads Spaniard Enric Mas by 3min 50sec.
Van Aert and Leknessund bought away early and have been joined by one other three riders, Johannessen, Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5) and Alexey Lutsenko (NSN) coming to the highest of the primary of 5 climbs.
The leaders labored collectively, constructing a substantial hole and on the foot of the remaining climb the 5 have been one minute forward of a chasing group of 13 riders with the peloton out of the operating with lower than 10km to the end.
Leknessund was the primary to attempt to get away, and when no one adopted he was ready to declare his stage win ultimately, having completed runner-up thrice at this 12 months’s Giro d’Italia.
“I said to Andreas that he should try to go early and then we check if the other guys are willing to work together,” Johannessen stated. “That’s what you always dream about when you try to be two guys in the breakaway and you can play it like this. I think we played it perfectly.
“A special day with what is happening back home in Norway so we are super proud.”
Felix Gall, fifth general, tried to get away from Pogacar, however the Slovene responded and in the long run gained 16sec on his closest rival Mas, with Pogacar’s compatriot Primoz Roglic a additional minute behind in third.
Stage eight on Saturday is a flat 176.4km route from Pucol to Xeraco.