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5 hours ago
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The Norwegian Andreas Leknessund launched a successful solo attack on the final climb to the summit finish of Aramón Valdelinares to win stage seven of the Vuelta a España, ahead 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 move from a five-rider breakaway 7.5km from the finish at the end of the 149.8km ride 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 said. “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 before the stage began in Vall d’Alba, and the Uno-X Mobility team 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 came in 34sec behind, having left the Belgian Wout van Aert in his wake close to the finish, with the Visma-Lease a Bike rider having to settle for third after he had made the initial attack from the off and spent most of the day out in front with Leknessund.
Tadej Pogacar, winner of three stages already, was happy to sit back in the peloton before pulling away from his general classification rivals approaching the summit to gain more seconds. The Slovene now leads Spaniard Enric Mas by 3min 50sec.
Van Aert and Leknessund got away early and were joined by another three riders, Johannessen, Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5) and Alexey Lutsenko (NSN) coming to the top of the first of five climbs.
The leaders worked together, building a substantial gap and at the foot of the final climb the five were one minute ahead of a chasing group of 13 riders with the peloton out of the running with less than 10km to the finish.
Leknessund was the first to try to get away, and when nobody followed he was able to claim his stage win at last, having finished runner-up three times at this year’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 said. “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 overall, tried to get away from Pogacar, but the Slovene responded and in the end gained 16sec on his closest rival Mas, with Pogacar’s compatriot Primoz Roglic a further minute behind in third.
Stage eight on Saturday is a flat 176.4km route from Pucol to Xeraco.
