The 150-kilometre mountain finish from Vall d’Alba to the Aramón Valdelinares ski resort produced plenty of memorable moments, but the fact that, of all people, two Norwegians finished first and second made the result all the more special. Both were racing with black armbands, as news had spread in the early hours of the morning that King Harald of Norway had died.

Not only was this Leknessund’s first Vuelta, but also the first for the entire Uno-X Team. The team, which has been registered as a WorldTeam since this year, has thus celebrated a stage victory in all three Grand Tours this season. For Leknessund personally, this is the eighth professional victory of his career and, after five second-place finishes this season – three of them at the Giro – his first win of the year.

“I didn’t expect it to be so emotional for me, even though it’s a very special day, not just for me, but for the whole of Norway,” said the 27-year-old, who hails from Tromsø, 350 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. “I’ve got so many emotions running through me and I had to fight really hard all day. I was in the group with Wout right from the start. When Tobias joined us, that gave me confidence. He’s actually the best climber, but after I launched the first attack in the final and nobody could follow, he practically handed me the victory.”

Pogacar gains more seconds, Gall makes up ground

Leknessund had broken away from a six-man leading group on the final climb, a group that had dictated the race all day. The attack went unanswered. Johannessen stayed on van Aert’s wheel for a long time so as not to jeopardise his team-mate’s position at the front, only overtaking him in the final kilometre to seal the one-two finish.

But van Aert, too, finally had something to celebrate. The Green Jersey, which he had been wearing on behalf of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG), is now truly his. Thanks to points scored in the intermediate sprint and at the finish, he now has two more points to his name than the Slovenian, who continues to wear the red jersey as the overall leader and tops the mountains classification.

The peloton had effectively conceded the stage win relatively early on, and even amongst themselves, the general classification favourites were barely challenging one another on the final climb. After Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) launched an attack following a build-up by his team, the group of favourites did break apart, but the gaps remained relatively small. Only Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost) and Mathias Skjelmose (Lidl – Trek) appear to have been eliminated from the fight for the podium for good. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) remains second behind Pogacar, although he lost a few seconds to Gall. The same applies to Primož Roglič (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), who, in third place, still has an eleven-second lead over the Austrian. Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS), who was defending the white jersey, are a further 60 seconds or so behind Gall and thus just over six minutes behind Pogacar.

2026 Vuelta a España – Results of Stage 7

Here’s how the 7th stage of the 2026 Vuelta a España unfolded

Right from kilometre 0, van Aert, Leknessund and Milan Vader (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) launched an attack. After the trio had opened up a gap of a few seconds, there were frantic attacks from behind, but the chasing groups were repeatedly reeled in at first. The race remained tense, with no steady rhythm ever establishing itself.

After around 20 kilometres, on the first steeper section, Vader was no longer able to keep up with the other two riders in the leading group. As he fell back, a new trio of chasers formed around Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Cycling Team), with a third, large group forming in their slipstream. The gap between the front group and the peloton remained at just 30 seconds. Shortly afterwards, the two chasing groups merged; on the climb to the day’s first mountain classification after 50 kilometres, a new chasing trio emerged comprising Lutsenko, Johannessen and Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q35-5 Pro Cycling Team), which caught up with the leaders before reaching the summit.

Over the next 50 kilometres, the situation stabilised. The six riders at the front built up a lead of a good minute and a half over the 22 chasers. The main peloton allowed the gap to widen to 4 minutes 30 seconds.

It all falls apart on the final climb

Up until 30 kilometres from the finish, the chasers were barely able to make up any ground. The peloton, on the other hand, made it clear that it had no ambitions of winning the stage. The gap was more than six minutes at that point. At the intermediate sprint shortly afterwards, van Aert collected the points. After that, the route was almost entirely uphill.

At the penultimate mountain classification of the day, just under 13 kilometres from the finish, the leading group crossed the line with a lead of just over a minute over the chasing pack. Following the descent, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) then stepped up the pace. At the front, it was Leknessund who, at the same time, broke up the group.

Four kilometres from the finish, van Aert and Johannessen were 40 seconds behind Leknessund, with the Norwegian simply hanging on to his rear wheel because his team-mate was leading the way. The chasers were unable to catch up with the original breakaway group.

The main field then reached the final climb as well. Decathlon set the pace there and gradually broke up the main field. When Gregor Mühlberger had also been dropped, Gall took the lead himself. Only Pogacar and Mas were able to keep up. In the very last few kilometres, however, Pogacar stepped it up a gear and made up some ground.

Meanwhile, Leknessund’s victory was now beyond doubt. Behind him, Johannessen rounded off the one-two. Van Aert finished third, but he too had reason to celebrate.