Vuelta a España stage 7 Live – Hilly day in Andalusia likely to favour the sprinters

A relaxed reaction from red jersey leader Ben O’Connor after today’s stage.

“It was a nice day. I wasn’t surprised he [Roglič] went for the bonus but once again, it wasn’t like an explosive attack on the climb so I’m pretty comfortable with how it turned out. 

“I can’t really do much against Primož’s sprint for the bonuses, but you have to take a lot of bonuses to make up that amount of time.”

Van Aert, who now leads Kaden Groves by 41 points in the green jersey standings, continued:

“In our team, it’s not only about winning but performing as a team and making challenging plans. A part of that is that everybody is there to sacrifice himself for the other. The defending champion pulling for you, that’s a huge example of our team philosophy.”

Now onto the stage winner and green jersey, Wout van Aert.

“I expected it to be a way bigger group to go to the finish. I knew the climb on the circuit was hard but I didn’t expect that the race would explode like it did. 

“From the top, I found myself with Sepp in the front group, Sepp did such an amazing job, I don’t think people know what it’s like when you’re below 60kg and you do those kinds of pulls on the flat. I had goosebumps in the wheel and just wanted to finish it off.”

He waited six months for one, then takes two wins in the space of a week!

Here’s some reaction from Sepp Kuss, teammate of stage 7 winner Wout van Aert:

“We always had this stage in mind for Wout but we knew it would be hard, especially with the pace on the last climb. 

“The pace was hard but when I saw Wout there I knew he was on a good day. It was a ‘sufferfest’ to pull Soler back but it feels like a victory for me too, it was really nice to be there with Wout.”

Here’s the top 10 from stage seven. 

It’s second place for Mathias Vacek, with Pau Miquel taking a brilliant third for Equipo Kern Pharma.

A top teammate performance from the defending champion Sepp Kuss. 

The American buried himself in the final 10km to bring the race back together and it paid off for Visma-Lease a Bike.

Wout van Aert launches though and once he takes the lead, no one can catch him! 

The Belgian wins another stage at La Vuelta.

Wout van Aert is in second…