Wout van Aert” Wins Stage Seven of Vuelta a España

Belgian Wout van Aert sprinted to win stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana, his second victory of this year's race, with Australia's Ben O'Connor retaining the overall lead.

Czech rider Mathias Vacek came in second ahead of Spain's Pau Miquel Delgado in third, with the red jersey of O'Connor finishing safely in the leading bunch.

The 180.5km ride from Archidona to Cordoba included one categorized climb, Alto del 14%, late in the stage, but with 26 kilometers to the finish, and a flat run after the descent, a bunch sprint was the expected outcome.

O'Connor, who took the red jersey after winning stage six, has a four-minute 45 seconds lead over three-times former champion Primoz Roglic.

The pace set by Red Bull and Roglic on the climb brought a split in the race, with a leading bunch of 33 riders left to battle for the stage win.

"I expected it to be a way bigger group to go to the finish. I knew the climb on the circuit was hard but I didn't expect that the race would explode like it did," Van Aert said.

"Sepp did such an amazing job, I don't think people know what it's like when you're below 60kg and you do those kinds of pulls on the flat," Van Aert added.

Australia's Kaden Groves, winner of stage two, crashed as he attempted to make his way back to the leaders, which took one of Van Aert's main rivals out of the final sprint.

Marc Soler attempted to get away on the descent, and it was Van Aert who went in pursuit but he then let his teammate and defending champion Sepp Kuss take over the work.

Van Aert strengthened his hold on the points jersey, and the Belgian who won stage three and finished second on two other stages, had the unselfish work of his American teammate to thank for this win.

Pre-race favorite Roglic only managed to take six seconds off O'Connor's impressive lead, taking the bonus seconds when he was first at the top of the climb.