Wout van Aert Claims Stage 7 Victory, O’Connor Still Leading

Wout van Aert secured his second victory of the Vuelta a España 2024 with a dramatic late sprint on stage seven. Van Aert, racing for Visma-Lease a Bike, outpaced Mathias Vacek and Pau Miquel Delgado in the final stretch after receiving crucial assistance from his teammate, Sepp Kuss. Kuss helped close the gap on then-leader Marc Soler, setting up Van Aert’s winning move.

Pavel Sivakov led into the final 200 meters but was overtaken by Aleksandr Vlasov before Van Aert surged to the front. Australian Ben O’Connor, who captured the red jersey with a solo triumph on stage six, maintained his overall lead despite Van Aert’s stage win. Van Aert extended his lead in the green jersey standings, now 41 points ahead of Australian Kaden Groves, up from the previous 13-point margin after stage six.

Stage seven’s results saw Wout van Aert finish in 4 hours, 15 minutes, and 39 seconds, with Vacek and Miquel Delgado rounding out the top three. Stefan Kung, Quinten Hermans, and Quentin Pacher also featured prominently in the top ten. The general classification still sees O’Connor in the lead with a total time of 27 hours, 44 minutes and 7 seconds.

Primoz Roglic trails by 4 minutes and 45 seconds, while Joao Almeida sits third, 4 minutes and 59 seconds behind. Enric Mas and Cristian Rodriguez are in fourth and fifth places, respectively. The Vuelta continues with stage eight, a 159-kilometer route from Ubede to Carzorla. This stage promises further excitement as the race progresses.