La Vuelta 2026 – Stage 07 [FULL STAGE]

August 28, 2026

81st La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2026 🇪🇸 (2.UWT) ME – Stage 7 – Vall d’Alba – Aramón Valdelinares : 149,8 km

Vuelta a España 2026 is a UCI WorldTour stage race run across varied Spanish terrain, typically combining high mountains, rolling inland roads, technical city finishes, and exposed transitional stages that can all shape the general classification. The route usually asks riders to manage long climbs, steep ramps, heat, and late-race fatigue, with recovery between decisive stages becoming a central factor. Crosswinds on flatter days, narrow roads in historic towns, and sharp changes in gradient can make even moderate stages tactically tense. Race dynamics often revolve around team control in the mountains, breakaways seeking opportunities on transitional terrain, and repeated attacks on summit finishes or steep uphill drags. Typical stage profiles may include alpine-style climbing days, medium-mountain stages, sprint opportunities, and technical finales that reward good positioning. The finishing style varies widely, from bunch sprints on flatter stages to solo arrivals or small-group battles after selective climbs. The race favors consistency, climbing depth, and resilience across three demanding weeks.

After spending the entire day in the breakaway, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) emerged victorious from a brutal 150km fight to the Aramón Valdelinares summit finish on stage 7, netting his first Grand Tour stage win after four times being a runner-up in the past.

Fittingly on a day of national mourning in Norway after the death of Harald V, it was Uno-X, in the team’s debut at the Vuelta a España in 2026, who came to the fore, with Tobias Halland Johannessen finishing second to make it a memorable 1-2 finish. Both men had black armbands on in memory of the former king, with the stage starting after a minute’s silence in Vall d’Alba.

After also attacking from kilometre zero alongside Leknessund, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) capped off an epic ride in the break by finishing third, unable to chase down the winner and getting dropped by Johannessen in the final kilometre.

With the red jersey secure, UAE Team Emirates-XRG allowed the breakaway to form after several waves of attacks in the opening half of the stage, then letting the gap go out to more than six minutes in the approach to the finale.

However, at the foot of the climb, Decathlon CMA CGM took over to try and gain time with Felix Gall, setting an infernal tempo before the Austrian attacked and distanced all of his rivals except race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE) and Enric Mas (Movistar).

In the end, Pogačar countered towards the top to gain more time on all of his GC rivals, Gall coming home next six seconds later. Mas lost 10 seconds after another strong ride, with the rest of the GC favourites coming home in dribs and drabs behind.

“It’s really hard to say. 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,” said Leknessund as he almost choked up.

“It was such a special day, going from the start with Wout; we were going really hard, so fast, Tobias 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.”

Uno-X have been on a rapid path to becoming one of cycling’s top teams, and that’s perhaps highlighted best by them winning a stage of all three Grand Tours this season – this being the first at the Vuelta – with Leknessund’s triumph adding to that of Frederik Dversnes at the Giro and Søren Wærenskjold at the Tour.

“It’s been incredible. I was there in the Giro, and it was really amazing, then the Tour, and now the Vuelta. It really shows how good of a team we are, and I’m super proud to be a part of it,” added the stage winner.

Asked if today was the perfect tribute to the passing of King Harald, Leknessund said, “Definitely. It’s been a special day for the team and for the whole of Norway. Obviously it’s a small thing in the bigger picture, but still it makes the day more special.”

How it unfolded
Everyone was expecting a breakaway day at the start of stage 7 of the Vuelta a España, and they got their wish, with the first attack of the day being launched right from kilometre zero by Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), and Milan Vader (Pinarello Q36.5).

Vader was dropped before the first climb, Puerto El Remolcador, as waves of attacks followed but failed to materialise into an actual breakaway. It was 4km from the summit where a group of three started to make a good impression on the leaders after getting fed up with a lack of cooperation: Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5), Alexey Lutsenko (NSN), and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).

With 98km to go, they made contact, forming a lead group of five, but with several willing attackers still making moves further down the road. The next best group on the road was huge, containing almost 20 riders, but soon it became clear that UAE and Pogačar were happy with the situation – albeit after 50km of hard racing – and allowed them to go.

Approaching the final 70km, where a series of three climbs and barely any descending would bring the race to the summit finale at Aramón Valdelinares, the gap from the leading quintet to the breakaway was 1:30, with the peloton four minutes away from the lead.

Making it into the large chasing group and surviving into the final 30km were: Raúl García Pierna (Movistar), Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike), Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), Pello Bilbao, Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain-Victorious), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Guillaume Martin, Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ United), Valentin Paret-Peintre, Filippo Zana (Soudal-QuickStep), Bryan Coquard, Sergio Samitier (Cofidis), Koen Bouwman, Finlay Pickering (Jayco AlUla), Juan Felipe Rodriguez (EF Education-EasyPost), Larry Warbasse (Tudor), Iván Ramiro Sosa, and Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma).

Six minutes down, UAE really knocked off the pace and settled into an “easier” day on stage 7, with Slovenian Omrzel being the closest to his compatriot Pogačar’s lead at the start of the day at 13:19, posing little threat of taking red.

Van Aert completed his objective of being in the break by easily winning the intermediate sprint in Mora de Rubielos, gaining him 20 points and closing the gap to Pogačar in the lead of the points classification. If this was four years ago, you’d say the Belgian was still in the running for the stage win, but the presence of Johannessen and Dubar made that look less likely – though not impossible.

Heading onto the penultimate climb of Puerto de Sa Rafael, as the seemingly never-ending uphill road to the finish continued, it was an acceleration from 21-year-old Bisiaux that started to make a selection in the large chase group. Still, they sat 1:37 down on the front group with 20km still to race.

The race for the stage win
It looked for long like the five leaders would battle out the stage, but Bisiaux, Bilbao and Zana were trying their best to make the catch for themselves and their teammates before the final ascent, upping the pace with gritted teeth.

Onto the final 9.8km ascent, it was Leknessund who made the first acceleration in front, with Lutsenko trying to chase him down after Johannessen cleverly let his wheel go. At this point, Van Aert looked like he was fading, and Uno-X’s numerical advantage started to pay dividends, with Johannessen marking any moves.

Back in the chasing group, it was EF’s 22-year-old Rodriguez and Sosa who were climbing best, cutting the deficit to the lone leader down to less than a minute. Both purer climbers, the Colombian pair had a slim chance, but with 5km to go, it would’ve taken something special to bridge the gap.

12 years ago on the last appearance of this very final climb at the Vuelta, Lutsenko finished second, but his chance at redemption ended with 4.5km to go when he cracked under the pressure being applied by a rallying Van Aert.

Under the 3km to go banner, Leknessund was still looking good, with a 45-second lead over Van Aert and the easier section of the final ascent still to come. A kilometre later, he was tying up after spending the entire day in the breakaway, but having also spent 140km in front, Van Aert was similarly faltering, with Johannessen still anchored to his wheel.

Soon, the 40-second deficit started to tick in the wrong direction, and it became clear that Leknessund was going to win. The icing on the cake for the Norwegian squad was Johannessen also distancing Van Aert before the line to make it a perfect 1-2.

Action in the peloton
As the stage win was going up the road, behind in the peloton, which had been calm for so long, things burst into life as Decathlon CMA CGM took over from UAE to just test Felix Gall’s rivals.

It was working as they quickly reduced the group to under 15 riders, with the likes of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) all struggling under the final pull from Gregor Mühlberger.

Gall accelerated in his typical style, with Pogačar and Mas following him. Unable to drop either of them, he soon swung off after his effort, and Pogačar went through. Barely pushing on but maintaining the speed, this distanced both riders.

He extended his hold of the red jersey by just a few seconds after finishing 19th on the stage, with all of his rivals struggling home behind him. It wasn’t a complete exhibition, but it was another confirmation that there is one dominant force in this Vuelta.

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