Juan Ayuso redeems himself with a victory at the top of Cerler

The Vuelta returned to one of the mythical peaks of the late 80s and early 90s editions, such as the Cerler ski resort, where the race had not returned since 2007. An interesting chain of climbs, but once again, with no effect on the general classification. A day for the breakaway in which Juan Ayuso found the legs he didn't have yesterday.

Third consecutive stage victory for UAE Team Emirates-XRG in La Vuelta

The peloton left Andorra heading towards the Aragonese Pyrenees on a 188-kilometer stage that had Cerler ski resort in the beautiful Benasque valley as its destination. In between, four interesting ascents, with the first one standing out, almost right at the start: the Port del Cantó, a very long climb of over 25 kilometers with a very demanding beginning. The menu also included climbs to Creu de Perves, La Espina, and the finish at the Ampriu sector of the Huesca ski resort.

As the ascent to Cantó began, a real melee of combat started trying to find a breakaway that, given the permissiveness of Visma-Lease a Bike, had many chances of success. However, it was a revived Juan Ayuso who launched the most forceful attack and went solo, purely by strength since the peloton did not let him go at any moment and kept him at a meager 25 seconds while jumps continued in the group without any of the attempts managing to catch up with the rider from Alicante.

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It took the attack, in the final part of the climb, much more gradual, from none other than the green jersey Mads Pedersen, to form an interesting chasing group that, on the descent, took risks to catch up with Ayuso and consolidate what would be the breakaway of the 7th stage of La Vuelta.

A group, as it could not be otherwise, of high level with 13 cyclists among whom names like Raúl García Pierna, Marco Frigo, Sean Quinn, Harold Tejada, or Jay Vine stood out, in addition to Mads Pedersen himself.

From this point on, the peloton, led by Bahrain-Victorious of the leader Torstein Træen, who left very good impressions during the ascent to Cantó, even sneaking into some of the breaks, perhaps forgetting the jersey he was wearing today.

The race entered a transitional phase until reaching the start of the final ascent to Cerler, where the escapees arrived with a juicy 3-minute advantage that practically guaranteed, considering it was a climb of just over 30 minutes for a professional, that the victory would be up front unless there was an immense offensive in the peloton.

Jay Vine accelerated the pace in the group, preparing the ground for his teammate Juan Ayuso who decided to attack from very low, just under 11 kilometers to go but knowing that the final part of this climb is very gentle and this was the place to open up differences. Initially, Marco Frigo joined his wheel, but a couple of kilometers later, a new strong and dry attack left the Italian behind, with Juan Ayuso inexorably heading for victory in this seventh stage of La Vuelta.

Raúl García Pierna would catch up to Marco Frigo, but his collaboration was fruitless and the gap with Ayuso only grew. Meanwhile, in the peloton, Visma-Lease a Bike took the lead, but with a not excessively hard pace that allowed many riders to stay in the group. The turning point came with the appearance of Marc Soler, who increased the pace for his leader Joao Almeida. The Portuguese rider tried, at a steady pace, true to his diesel style, and although he initially managed to split the group, making his way alongside Vingegaard and Ciccone, he eased off as he did not find collaboration from them, allowing Egan Bernal, Sepp Kuss, leader Torstein Træen, and even Tom Pidcock to rejoin.

Finally, except for a mild attack by Marc Soler, who crossed the finish line with a few seconds of advantage, with no bonuses at stake, once again a mountain stage ended with no difference among the favorites to win the general classification of La Vuelta 2025.

Stage 7 Classification

1. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4h49'41''
2. Marco Frigo (Israel-PremierTech) +1'15''
3. Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +1'21''
4. Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) +1'28''
5. Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) +1'28''
6. Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic-PostNL) +1'28''
7. Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto) +1'28''
8. Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ) +2'17''
9. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2'30''
10. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +2'35''

General Classification

1. Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) 25h18'02''
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +2'33''
3. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2'41''
4. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +2'42''
5. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) +2'47''
6. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +2'49''
7. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2'53''
8. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2'53''
9. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +2'55''
10. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +2'58''