VUELTA’26 STAGE 7: Andreas Leknessund won Vuelta a España 2026 Stage 7 at Valdelinares after spending almost the entire day on the attack, then riding away from Wout van Aert on the final climb. Teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen finished second to complete a Uno-X Mobility one-two, with Van Aert third. Behind the breakaway, Tadej Pogačar let someone else collect the flowers—but still helped himself to a little more time in the overall standings.
Finally, Some Room to Race
Would Pogačar give the breakaway a little breathing room? After watching the red jersey collect stage wins like souvenirs, there was a long list of riders hoping the answer was yes.
Stage 7 certainly offered the terrain for an escape: five climbs, plenty of opportunities to spend more energy than you intended, and a final appointment with Valdelinares—9.8 kilometres at an average of 5.9%.
Getting into the right move was one thing. Having anything left to finish it off would be another.
Wout Wastes No Time
Wearing the green points jersey, Wout van Aert was among the first to decide that the front of the race looked like the place to be. Milan Vader of Pinarello-Q36.5 and Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility joined him, and the peloton initially appeared happy enough with the arrangement.
Wout van Aert committed early and stayed in the fight all the way to Valdelinares. Photo: Cor Vos.
Almost three minutes later, a few teams reconsidered.
XDS Astana put some urgency into the chase and cut the gap to around a minute and a half. But after doing the work to bring the race closer together, they missed the next important move.
Alexey Lutsenko (NSN), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5) slipped away in pursuit. Ahead, Vader paid for his early effort and lost contact, leaving Van Aert and Leknessund to carry on.
The three chasers bridged across, giving us five leaders—and Uno-X two very useful cards to play.
Plenty of Names, Not Enough Cooperation
Behind them, another 22 riders weren’t ready to concede the stage.
There was no shortage of horsepower: Bruno Armirail, Léo Bisiaux, Pello Bilbao, Jakob Omrzel, Mads Pedersen, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Filippo Zana, Koen Bouwman, Finlay Pickering, Marco Brenner and Larry Warbasse were among those giving chase.
But a big group doesn’t automatically mean a fast group. With riders watching each other and several teams holding multiple options, cooperation never quite matched the quality of the start list.
The five ahead kept working. The bigger group stayed more than a minute behind.
Van Aert, meanwhile, banked the intermediate sprint and added another useful haul to his points-classification account. A productive day already—but there was a stage win up the road.
Leknessund Makes His Move
Inside the final 30 kilometres, the opportunity became clear. The chasing group wasn’t closing, and the peloton was slipping further away.
With nearly seven minutes in hand over the bunch, the five leaders reached a finale that offered precious little relief from climbing. They stayed together over the first climb of that closing sequence, where Van Aert collected maximum mountain points.
Then Valdelinares changed everything.
Leknessund lifted the pace, and Van Aert began to struggle. At first, the Norwegian’s effort looked like it might be preparation for teammate Johannessen. Instead, Leknessund opened a gap of his own—and kept going.
Behind him, Johannessen had every reason to leave the chasing to somebody else. When Lutsenko tried to close the gap, the second Uno-X rider played his supporting role perfectly.
Van Aert fought his way back into contention behind the lone leader, but by then Leknessund had built an advantage of around half a minute.
After spending almost the entire day out front, the Norwegian still had enough left to finish the job.
Johannessen then beat Van Aert to second, completing a Uno-X one-two. Wout took third after another day of doing rather more than just wearing the green jersey.
Pogačar Lets the Break Go—Then Takes More Time
The GC contenders saved their action for deep into the final climb.
Decathlon CMA CGM increased the pace for Felix Gall, hoping to put the red jersey under pressure. The Austrian then attacked with only a few kilometres remaining, but Pogačar was right there.
And when the final accounting was done, the race leader had added a little more time to his advantage.
After Enric Mas had fought his way back to Pogačar on the gravel slopes of El Bartolo the previous day, there had been at least something for his rivals to discuss over dinner. Valdelinares offered less encouragement.
PEZ SEZ: Uno-X got the tactics right, but Leknessund still had to supply the legs. Attack early, survive the day, then ride away from Wout van Aert on the last climb? That’s a stage win you’ve earned.
Leknessund: A long day out front, a winning move on Valdelinares—Andreas Leknessund finishes the job for Uno-X.
La Vuelta a Espana 2026 Stage 7 Results
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