SPANIARD JUAN Ayuso powered to a solo stage seven Vuelta a España victory on Friday, securing a third straight stage win for Team UAE.
Torstein Traen of Bahrain Victorious held on to the leader’s red jersey, finishing in a group along with general classification favourites Jonas Vingegaard and Joao Almeida.
Team UAE’s Ayuso fell out of the running for the overall race on Thursday despite being among the pre-race favourites. Ayuso later said he had not planned to compete for the overall title anyway and made an early attack here.
Ayuso, perhaps upset at not being chosen as his team’s leader for the race behind Almeida, flexed his muscles on the mountainous 188-kilometre run from Andorra La Vella to the Spanish village of Cerler, one of the race’s toughest stages.
He formed part of the day’s break that contained stage six winner Jay Vine and Mads Pedersen, among others, with 140 kilometres remaining.
The break stayed clear with Bahrain Victorious and Traen happy to let them stay up the road.
Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard, favourite to win the race, and his likely closest rival Almeida were content to hang back in the peloton.
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Ayuso attacked with 11 kilometres remaining, and although Marco Frigo bridged the gap, the Spaniard dumped the Israel Premier Tech rider with a second burst.
The 22-year-old crossed the finish line with his fingers in his ears. Frigo came in second, one minute 15 seconds behind Ayuso, while Arkea’s Raul Garcia Pierna secured third.
Ayuso’s stage win was his first in the race and a second in a Grand Tour, following a victory at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year.
“I think it was one of my best wins, considering the difficulty,” said Ayuso, who foraged alone for the first hour, waiting for riders to join him to create the break.
“I had to do the first hour of the race by myself… I think I was able to do a very good job and finish it off…
“It’s amazing… to win a stage here in the Vuelta, it’s my favourite race, I’ll always remember it and I’m very proud.”
Almeida made a bid to gain some time on his rivals, but Vingegaard, Traen, 2023 Vuelta champion Sepp Kuss and others caught up with relative ease.
“It was a decent day in total, but it was not an easy day. We want to still try to save our energy a bit, so we decided not to do anything today,” said Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard.
“We want to save the team for the second and third week.”
Traen holds a two-and-a-half-minute lead on Vingegaard at the top of the general classification.
Meanwhile, Eddie Dunbar was 42nd while fellow Irish cyclist Archie Ryan came 111th.
Ryan is 44th overall, while Dunbar is 85th.
After back-to-back mountain stages, riders will get some relief on Saturday as a relatively flat stage eight stretches 163.5 kilometres from Monzon Templario to Zaragoza.
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Ayuso triumphs in Vuelta stage seven, Traen keeps red jersey
SPANIARD JUAN Ayuso powered to a solo stage seven Vuelta a España victory on Friday, securing a third straight stage win for Team UAE.
Torstein Traen of Bahrain Victorious held on to the leader’s red jersey, finishing in a group along with general classification favourites Jonas Vingegaard and Joao Almeida.
Team UAE’s Ayuso fell out of the running for the overall race on Thursday despite being among the pre-race favourites. Ayuso later said he had not planned to compete for the overall title anyway and made an early attack here.
Ayuso, perhaps upset at not being chosen as his team’s leader for the race behind Almeida, flexed his muscles on the mountainous 188-kilometre run from Andorra La Vella to the Spanish village of Cerler, one of the race’s toughest stages.
He formed part of the day’s break that contained stage six winner Jay Vine and Mads Pedersen, among others, with 140 kilometres remaining.
The break stayed clear with Bahrain Victorious and Traen happy to let them stay up the road.
Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard, favourite to win the race, and his likely closest rival Almeida were content to hang back in the peloton.
Ayuso attacked with 11 kilometres remaining, and although Marco Frigo bridged the gap, the Spaniard dumped the Israel Premier Tech rider with a second burst.
The 22-year-old crossed the finish line with his fingers in his ears. Frigo came in second, one minute 15 seconds behind Ayuso, while Arkea’s Raul Garcia Pierna secured third.
Ayuso’s stage win was his first in the race and a second in a Grand Tour, following a victory at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year.
“I think it was one of my best wins, considering the difficulty,” said Ayuso, who foraged alone for the first hour, waiting for riders to join him to create the break.
“I had to do the first hour of the race by myself… I think I was able to do a very good job and finish it off…
“It’s amazing… to win a stage here in the Vuelta, it’s my favourite race, I’ll always remember it and I’m very proud.”
Almeida made a bid to gain some time on his rivals, but Vingegaard, Traen, 2023 Vuelta champion Sepp Kuss and others caught up with relative ease.
“It was a decent day in total, but it was not an easy day. We want to still try to save our energy a bit, so we decided not to do anything today,” said Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard.
“We want to save the team for the second and third week.”
Traen holds a two-and-a-half-minute lead on Vingegaard at the top of the general classification.
Meanwhile, Eddie Dunbar was 42nd while fellow Irish cyclist Archie Ryan came 111th.
Ryan is 44th overall, while Dunbar is 85th.
After back-to-back mountain stages, riders will get some relief on Saturday as a relatively flat stage eight stretches 163.5 kilometres from Monzon Templario to Zaragoza.
– © AFP 2025
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