Belgian Wout van Aert celebrates his second stage win in this year's Vuelta. Swiss rider Stefan Küng finishes fourth.
In the 7th stage over 180.5 km starting in Archidona, the riders had to conquer the Alto del 14% on the 40 km long additional loop after the first finish in Cordoba. This is named after its steepest ramp. In the end, 33 riders reached the finish together, with Wout van Aert winning the sprint. The 29-year-old had already won stage 3 and finished on the podium a further three times.
Despite the tough climb, Stefan Küng was also part of the leading group, and once again the 30-year-old from Thurgau sprinted to victory. However, as with 5th place on Wednesday, he was once again not rewarded with a podium finish. Küng had already finished fourth in the opening time trial in Lisbon.
The leader remained Australian Ben O'Connor, who finished 17th after his impressive solo ride on Thursday, just ahead of Primoz Roglic, the first chaser in the overall standings. The Slovenian, three-time winner of the Vuelta, won the mountain classification on the Alto del 14% and reduced the gap to O'Connor by six seconds to 4:45 minutes.
Küng is in 54th place overall, almost 21 minutes behind O'Connor. Mauro Schmid, the second Swiss in the field, is in 109th place. The 24-year-old from Zurich lost 3:55 minutes in stage 7.
At the end of the first Vuelta week, it's off to the mountains again. The third mountain arrival is scheduled for Saturday in Cazorla, and on Sunday there are three 1st category mountain prizes to tackle on the climb through the Sierra Nevada.
