Thanks for joining us today! At last, we have a stage winner that is neither Tadej Pogačar, nor Matthew Brennan. The former might have a stranglehold on the GC, but there remains much to play for at this Vuelta, with many stages to be won.

The next opportunity comes tomorrow, although it is another chance for Brennan to land a third stage. Whether or not it’s a sprint or another one for the breakaway will depend upon how the final climb goes crested about 30km from the finish – be sure to log in tomorrow when we’ll bring you all the action.

Here’s what en emotional Andreas Leknessund had to say at the finish, after at last winning the Grand Tour stage he has spent these past few years so unluckily chasing.

“I didn’t expect it to be this emotional, but for sure there’s so much feelings around this. I’ve been fighting really hard, and it means a lot.”

“It was such a special day, going from the start with Wout [van Aert]; we were going really hard, so fast, Tobias [Johannessen] came up and it gave me confidence when he was there that we could win. I believe he was the best climber in the group, but we had ambition that one of us had a gap on the final climb; he let my wheel go and basically gave me the win – I’m really proud and grateful.”

The consequence of those attacks in the GC group have been that Pogačar has increased his lead on GC to 3:50 to Mas in second place, and 4:50 to Roglič in third place.

The only change in positions is that Carapaz has tumbled from fourth to seventh leapfrogged by Gall, Kuss and Onley, but in remains very close, with both Kuss and Onley within just seven seconds of him.

The day’s winner, Andreas Leknessund.

Pogačar finishes, and this time he’s put 6 seconds into Gall, 16 seconds into Mas, and 29 seconds into Roglic, Kuss and Onley. It’s a costly day for Carapaz, who finishes 1:22 after Pog.

POGACAR ATTACK

The red jersey has made his move, and once again, nobody can respond! Gall is behind pursuing him, with Mas next on the road, and a trio of Roglic, Kuss and Onley together behind him.

LEKNESSUND WINS

At last, after no less than four runner-up finished at the Giro d’Italia, Andreas Leknessund is a Grand Tour stage winner! Better yet, his compatriot and teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen has completed a one-two for Uno-X, with Van Aert coming home third.

1KM TO GO

Johannessen has made a move and dropped the struggling Van Aert, but is till 45 seconds behind his teammate Leknessund. It looks as those the Norwegian is going to claim his first ever Grand Tour victory.

GALL ATTACKS

As the ten-or-so riders left in the peloton go under the 3km to go banner, the last of the Decathlon teammates swing off, and Gall attacks! Only Pogačar and Mas have followed him.

2KM TO GO

Decathlon are now upping the pace in the peloton, and riders are being dropped – including the men ninth, tenth and eleventh respectively on GC, Skjelmose, Tejada and Widar.

At the front, Leknessund’s lead has been cut a little, to 42 seconds. But he’s in a great position, with Van Aert having to do all the work by himself with Johannessen glued to his wheel.

In the peloton, Decathlon have formed a line of domestiques alongside UAE, keeping Gall well-positioned. No signs of any attacks yet, and the group remains big, but there’s still a lot of climbing to be done.

Out front, Leknessund is still looking strong, and has grown his lead over Van Aert and his teammate Johannessen (Lutsenko has been dropped) to 45 seconds. He’s looking good for the win at this rate…

Leknessund is building a big lead! He’s got over 20 seconds over the chase group. In that chase group, Lutsenko and Van Aert are having to do all of the work, as Johannessen is Leknessund’s teammate.

LEKNESSUND ATTACK

For the first time all day, there’s been an attack in the lead group, and it’s come from Leknessund. He’s got a few seconds on the others, while Dunbar has been dropped.

KOM – ARAMON VALDELINARES

The leading group are climbing again already, and it’s the hardest one of the day, averaging 5.9% for 9.8km. This will be where the stage is decided! And potentially cause some gaps in the GC race…

KOM – PUERTO DE SAN RAFEAL

Van Aert leads the group over the climb, and is still looking strong. The five riders are all still together, and lead the chasers by just over a minute. With just a short descent, and then one final climb to the finish, to come, it seems like the stage is going to one of them. But which one?

How will Enric Mas go on these final climbs? He looked better than he has done in years yesterday, entering a very select club of riders who have managed to close down Pogačar after an attack. For his efforts, he now wears the King of the Mountains jersey, and is up to second overall on the GC – but could he try and make more inroads today?

‘A good day, but let’s not give it too much importance’ – Enric Mas remains cautious after matching Tadej Pogačar on Vuelta a España gravel climb

20KM TO GO

The chasers are losing more ground on the leaders as they climb up the hill, falling to 1:45 behind. Bisiaux is taking the initiative to try and give them hope, upping the pace and dropping some riders out the back, but he ha a lot of ground to make up.

Meanwhile the peloton is still going at a steady tempo, UAE happy to let the gap grow to seven minutes.

The riders are climbing again, and will spend almost all of the day 23km doing so. First up is the Puerto de San Rafael (11.2km at 4.4%), then, after a very short descent, the 9.8km Aramón Valdelinares, which rises at 5.9% to the finish.

Luca Van Boven will ride the climb behind the peloton, after crashing in the peloton, colliding into an Astana rider.

INTERMEDIATE SPRINT

Wout van Aert is allowed to take the points at the intermediate sprint. Despite not having taken part in the bunch sprints, in which he’s played the role of lead-out man instead for teammate Brennan, Van Aert is now a clear second in the points classification, ahead of Brennan and behind only Pogačar.

Here are the new rankings:

1 Pogačar 102 points

2 Van Aert 89

3 Brennan 60

4 Hayter 57

5 Laporte 52

If this does indeed come down to the leading five for the stage win, we could be in for an exciting, unpredictable finish.

On paper, Johannessen is probably the best climber, but hasn’t been in the same form so far at this Vuelta that saw him place 6th overall at the Tour last year. Dunbar has similar Grand Tour stages on their palmares, so know how to win from this situation; as does Lutsenko, albeit from a long time ago, while Leknessund came very close multiple times at this year’s Giro. And though this finish might be a little hard for Van Aert, you can never discount the Belgian, and he’s looked strong all day having attacked from the flag.

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The peloton doesn’t look as though they will be riding for the stage win, but there’s still plenty of GC action on the cards.

Oscar Onley will therefore be wanting a much better day than yesterday, when he was dropped by his GC rivals and lost time, after going too deep to try to follow Tadel Pogačar. It’s a lesson many others have learned the hard way in the past, and Scott is hoping to bounce back today in pursuit of a podium finish.

‘I was pretty useless’ – Oscar Onley ‘overcooks’ gravel climb at Vuelta a España and pays the price

KOM – FUENTE DE RUBIELOS

The five leaders crest the climb, led by Van Aert from Lutsenko and Dunbar. Once again, there isn’t any interest shown in chasing the KO points.

The chasers have failed to make any more inroads over the rest of the climb, and are back down to 1:20 behind, while the peloton remain at over five minutes. A long plateau will now take the riders to to the foot of the penultimate climb, the long category two Puerto de San Rafael.

The pace is up in the chase group on this climb, and some can’t keep up with the pace – including Pedersen’s who’s dropped. They’re making up some ground on the leaders, who are now just over a minute ahead, but still have lots of work to do.

50KM TO GO

They’re climbing again! The first of the remaining three climbs, Alto Fuente de Rubielos, is the easiest of the three, but will still test their legs and potentially start breaking up the race more.

The leaders have a big advantage, almost five minutes on the peloton. The chase group is closer, at 1:35, but anyone hoping to win the stage in that group will need to jump clear soon and hunt them down.

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The chasers haven’t been working well together, and they keep attacking each other. Five of them did manage to get a small gap for a while, but have been brought back again, once again taking the impetus out of the chase. They’re 1:45 behind the five leaders now, and are watching any hope of winning the stage disappear up the road.

As usual, UAE are controlling the peloton, but aren’t showing as much intent to chase down the break as they have in previous stages. The gap’s now grown to over four minutes – we might be poised for our first breakaway win of this year’s Vuelta.

The race is in more of a holding patter now, a plateau and now descent seeing the gaps remain much the same. The five leaders have 1:35 over the chase group, and 3:50 over the peloton.

There’s some distance ’till the third climb of the day, but upon reaching the foot of it there’s barely a kilometre from there to the finish that isn’t uphill.

Pogačar’s team were quick to claim that his being caught yesterday was down to an uncharacteristic lack of legs, but instead due to a race communication fault which meant they did not receive accurate time gaps – implying that, had they known Mas was closer than reported, Pog would have upped the pace to stay clear of him.

Regardless, the way the race unfolded will still give rivals hope that he can be competed against.

‘We didn’t know that Enric was so close’ – Inaccurate time gaps explain how Tadej Pogačar was caught during Vuelta a España attack

It’s looking like we could well have a battle for the stage win among the breakaway group today, the way the day is panning out.

But will we have a battle for the GC, too? The terrain is potentially difficult enough, with a category one uphill finish, and yesterday suggested Tadej Pogačar isn’t quite at the alien level we’re used to seeing him at. That’s raised the eyebrows of his rivals – could they try to test him today with attacks?

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KOM – ALTO DE ZUCAINA

This one wasn’t a long climb, lasting just 5.5km at at a reasonable gradient of 4.8% – harder tests are to come later.

The five-man lead group remain together, and are working well, not even sprinting against each other for the KOM points. The chasers are falling further behind, to 1:25, while the peloton is holding steady at about 3:30.

The riders are descending, but won’t be for much longer. Once they reach the bottom they’ll start ascending the Alto de Zucaina, the second of the day’s five climbs.

The five leaders have grown their lead on this descent on the chasers to 55 seconds, and to the peloton, almost three and a half minutes. It doesn’t appear UAE are chasing hard – not for now, at least.

KOM – PUERTO EL REMOLCADOR

Dunbar, Johannessen and Lutsenko catch Van Aert and Leknessund before the top of the climb, and the quintet reach the top 35 seconds before the large chase group (which, among others, includes V Paret-Peintre, Bilbao, and, to nobody’s surprise, Mads Pedersen). Leknessund took five KOM points, Lutsenko 3 and Johannessen 1.

The peloton is now over two minutes behind, and being led by UAE at a steady tempo. This big question now is whether they will allow the leaders a be enough gap to contest the stage, or reel it in to attempt yet another win for Pogačar.

100KM TO GO

A natural selection is beginning to form in the chase group. Three of the best climbers, Johannessen, Dunbar and Lutsenko, have gone clear of the rest, and are closing in on Van Aert and Leknessund. They’re 25 seconds behind them, ten seconds ahead of the rest of the chase group, and now over two minutes ahead of the peloton, which appears to have sat up.

This is some of the chase group in between the leading duo and the peloton. They’re about 30 seconds behind the former, and 25 seconds ahead of the latter, with half of the climb still to ride up.

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For the first time today, the riders are now climbing, up the category two Puerto El Remolcador (12.4km at 4.4%). And they’re not going to soft-peddle up it – the race remains very much on.

Lutsenko, Zana and Bisiaux have been absorbed into the chase group, which contains about 20 riders, and they’re 50 seconds behind the peloton, and just under a minute over the peloton, where still the attacks keep coming. It seems like half the peloton wants to get into the break today.

Lutsenko, Zana and Bisiaux (all pictured) are close to being caught by a large group of chasers, which appears to have at least a dozen riders in it, including Tobias Halland Johannessen, Eddie Dunbar, Marco Brenner and Pello Bilbao. The peloton appears more content with this group, too, and has eased up a little to fall 30 seconds behind them.

Meanwhile, Van Aert and Leknessund are still going hard, and lead the chasers by about 30 seconds.

120KM TO GO

The race remains still very close together. Van Aert and Leknessund are just 35 seconds ahead of Lutsenko, Zana, Bisiaux, who are themselves just ten seconds ahead of a chasing duo of Martin and Raúl García Pierna, with the peloton just another ten seconds behind. This could all yet come back together, or they escapees could form one big group – it’s a very open situation.

Three riders have successfully escaped from the peloton, and it’s a strong trio – Lutsenko, Zana and Bisiaux. They’re bearing down on the leaders, bringing the gap down to 45 seconds, while the peloton remains active only a handful of seconds behind, with more attacks being made. This has developed into a breathless start.

Vader can’t keep up with the pace, and has been dropped by Van Aert and Leknessund.

They’re having to go very hard to fend off the peloton, which is now only just over a minute behind them. The attacks keep coming out of it, and though nobody has gone clear, the pace is well up and spelling danger for the two leader’s chances.

The chase group has been caught, leaving just Van Aert, Leknessund and Vader out front. But the pace is back up in the peloton as more riders show intent to attack, and consequently the gap to the three leaders has been almost halved, back down to 1:20 This could yet be a long time before this settles down!

The three riders leading the race. As it stands, this might be the break of the day – the four chasers still have a non inconsiderable 1:20 to make up if they’re to join them, and the group doesn’t have big names that we know for sure have the power to bridge up to them. Whereas the front group has a certain Wout van Aert.

Milan Vadar is the third rider at the front with Van Aert and Leknessund, and they have a lead of over two minutes already over the peloton already.

Things aren’t done yet, though. Behind that trio is a quartet of Ourselin, Cobo, Roosen and Wilksch chasing, and behind them more riders are jumping clear of the peloton. But even that first chase group has a minute to make up.

OFFICIAL START

And they’re off! And the very first rider to attack from the flag is none other than Wout van Aert, who has got up the road with both Andreas Leknessund and one other rider, and has a gap.

The riders have just started, moving behind the race car through the neutralised section. The parcours and circumstances today do feel encouraging for the breakaway, which could see a first win go the breakaway today – so there will therefore likely be a big fight today once the flag drops.

Yesterday’s stage saw a predictable result, but in an unpredictable fashion. Tadej Pogačar did his usual attack on the final climb, but rather than disappear into the distance never to be seen again, he was reeled back by Enric Mas. He might still have won, but had to outsprint the impressive Spaniard to do so, and displayed rare signs of weakness, even crashing on the descent.

Vuelta a España: Tadej Pogačar survives near-crash on descent for third victory of the race on stage 6

It might still be the first week of the Vuelta, but already a clear hierarchy has been formed at the top of the GC, with minutes separating them. That could become yet clearer today, for what is yet another stage in the mountains.

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Hello and welcome to stage seven of the Vuelta a España!