Juan Ayuso bounced back from a disappointing stage six to win stage seven of the Vuelta a España, escaping his breakaway companions on the final climb.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider made it three stage wins in a row for the team at this race, the day after he lost more than 11 minutes to the winner, seven to the other GC favourites. Ayuso attacked from the beginning of the stage to the end to ensure his first win at his home Grand Tour.
How it happened
Stage seven of the Vuelta a España began in Andorra, before heading back to Spain, where the rest of this race will take place.
Attacks came thick and fast in the opening kilometres, with attempts to establish a break coming from Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) among others.
With 175km to go there was a surprising attacker in Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with the whole break shut down, before the Spaniard forged on again.
With the racing hitting the Port del Cantó (24.9km at 4.4%) early, riders were dropping from the peloton early, and the main bunch reducing.
The next attacks came from stage six winner Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and then Damien Howson (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
Ayuso claimed the maximum points atop the Cantó, before the day’s break established itself with 141km to go. Alongside Pedersen, Ayuso, Vine and Howson, there was: Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa B&B Hotels), Jardi van der Lee and Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto), Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana).
A second group briefly forged off the front of the peloton, but these nine were not to have an impact on the stage.
Atop the Puerto de la Creu de Perves, Vine won maximum points. The gap at points between the peloton and the break moved towards five minutes.
The next climb was the second category Coll de l’Espina. Before the summit, Vine attacked, followed by Quinn, with the former taking the points. It looked like the duo might escape the break, along with Frigo, but they were pegged back. Vine, however, now had a lead in the king of the mountains classification.
The rider pushing the break forwards, towards the intermediate sprint, was Pedersen. With 24km to go, their advantage was still above four minutes. Pedersen successfully took all the points at the sprint in Bensque before being distanced by his escape companions.
With 11km to go, the gap still stood above three minutes, but the race was still very much in the balance. Ayuso attacked out of the break with just under 11km to go, followed by Frigo.
Ayuso eked out an advantage over Frigo, who was followed in turn by García Pierna, The other remains of the break were Quinn, Tejada, Rolland, Vermaerke and Sepúlveda, at this point.
However, it was Ayuso looked strong as the race continued up the mountain, building an advantage of almost a minute with 5km to go. His compatriot Mikel Landa, meanwhile, dropped from the peloton lower down the climb, likely losing time.
Also in the peloton, UAE Team Emirates-XRG came to the front through Marc Soler and João Almeida with 6km to go. At this point, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and the other GC contenders remained, as did red jersey Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious).
Almeida surged forward from the peloton again, taking Vingegaard and his teammate Kuss, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), but they were caught by the small group of favourites.
Ayuso stormed to victory, with Frigo following in behind, over a minute down, and then García Pierna and the rest of the break. Meanwhile, Soler attacked out of the group of favourites, but only ended up gaining seconds.
The main GC contenders finished together.
Results
Vuelta a España 2025 stage seven: Andorra la Vella > Celer, Huesca La Magia (188km)
1. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:49:41
2. Marco Frigo (Ita) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:15
3. Raúl García Pierna (Esp) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +1:21
4. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS Astana, +1:28
5. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
6. Kevin Vermaerke (USA) Picnic PostNL
7. Eduardo Sepúlveda (Arg) Lotto, all at same time
8. Brieuc Rolland (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +2:17
9. Marc Soler (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:30
10. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +2:35
General classification after stage seven
1. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, in 25:18:02
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:33
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:41
4. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:42
5. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana, +2:47
6. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:49
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:53
8. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time
9. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:55
10. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:58
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