Vuelta a España Stage 7: Uno-X Mobility Goes 1-2 After Van Aert Lights Up Day-Long Break

Andreas Leknessund and Tobias Johannessen gave Uno-X Mobility an emphatic breakaway 1-2 on Friday at the Vuelta a España in a day of mourning in their home country of Norway.

The two Norsemen and their Uno-X Mobility teammates rode in black armbands on stage 7 as a mark of respect for King Harald V, who died early Friday morning aged 89.

Wout van Aert finished third after he animated an epic day-long attack of five riders to overhaul Tadej Pogačar in the green jersey classification.

Pogačar and UAE Emirates XRG let the breakaway have its day in Friday’s grueling medium mountain stage.

But the Slovenian didn’t waste an opportunity to take a dig at his rivals back in the peloton.

Pogačar responded to some late aggression from Felix Gall and Decathlon CMA CGM by attacking in the final Ks of the mountain finish to pad his GC advantage by a few more seconds.

Pogačar’s late kick leaves him 3:50 ahead of second-place Enric Mas (Movistar) ahead of a sprint stage on Saturday. Third-place Primož Roglič (Red Bull) lost 13 seconds to the Spaniard in the final and finishes the day at 4:50 overall.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) both lost significant time when the GC peloton shattered behind Gall and Pogačar’s accelerations but held on to their positions in the top-10.

Leknessund, finally

Friday’s stage win was doubly significant for Leknessund.

The 27-year-old is regularly on the attack when his team comes to a grand tour, but he has had to make do with finishing second four times. He was runner-up an incredible three times at this year’s Giro.

Leknessund could barely contain his emotions at finally getting that marquee win.

“It’s hard to say how I feel. I didn’t expect it to be this emotional,” a tearful Leknessund said at the finish. “There are so many feelings around this. I’ve been fighting really hard [for a grand tour victory], it means a lot.

“It’s a special day for the team and the whole of Norway,” he added, speaking of the death of the nation’s long-serving monarch. “Of course it’s a small thing in the bigger picture, but it makes the day more special.”

Van Aert causes mayhem in the mountains

Wout van Aert’s all-attacking Vuelta a España continued Friday.

He started the day wearing the green jersey on behalf of classification leader Pogačar, but wanted to score enough points to earn it outright.

WVA and Leknessund made their decisive attack after around less than 10km of racing before Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5), Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Pro Cycling), and Leknessund’s teammate Johannessen joined to make the final five who survived to the final.

A mob of chasers formed behind the lead attack in the opening 50km.

The pursuit of 16 included plenty of potential stage-winners, but Leknessund, Van Aert and the leaders were fully committed in the Vuelta’s first true breakaway stage.

They rolled together all through the grinding course and hit the base of the final 10km climb with around one minute over the chasers.

Leknessund was the dangerman in the break, and he didn’t wait to live up to that billing. The Norwegian climber attacked around 6km from the line and steadily grew a gap.

Van Aert defied his size to lead the chase behind Leknessund. However, gravity was against him, and he had Leknessund’s teammate Johannessen stuck on his wheel.

Johannessen merely had to wait to dispatch his Belgian rival. The Norwegian dropped Van Aert 1km from the line to bring Uno-X Mobility a 1-2 on a day of mourning back home in Norway.

Decathlon lights up final after UAE lets the break go

Pogačar finally decided to cool his jets Friday.

After winning 3 stages already and encountering a bit of a scare Thursday at the hands of Enric Mas, Pogi let UAE Emirates-XRG play defense.

The UAE superteam gave the group more than 5 minutes of a gap through to the 10km summit finish.

Only Decathlon CMA-CGM continued its commitment to attack. The French team tried to put on the pressure for Gall through the final 5km to the line.

It worked to some extent.

Gall was inevitably dropped by Pogačar when the Slovenian moved in the final kilometer, but the ambitious Austrian finished best of the rest to inch himself closer to the overall podium.

Vuelta a España stage 7 results