The 2025 Vuelta a Espana continued Friday with stage 7 – a 188-kilometer ride on a route from Andorra la Vella to Cerler Huesca La Magia. The remaining riders in the Vuelta peloton would start stage 7 in Andorra la Vella, race 188 kilometers through the mountains, before concluding the stage with an uphill finish to Cerler. Huesca la Magia. General classification favorites were expected to work their magic while battling for valuable time gains, while breakaway optimists would be aiming for a memorable stage win for their palmares.

Stage 7 got off to a fast and challenging start as the riders entered the Port del Canto climb (Category 1) shortly after the start. Multiple attacks were launched in the short downhill section, which took the riders to the climb and riders such as Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Pierre Thierry (Arkea B & B Hotels) and Jonas Gregaard (Team Lotto-Caps) tried their luck with breakaway attempts.

No viable breakaway group was, however, formed in the first kilometers of the stage and the battle for a viable lead continued on Port del Canto where Juan Ayuso launched a solo attack and formed a gap. The Spanish rider of UAE Team Emirates had lost valuable time in yesterday’s stage and was now more than ten minutes behind general classification leader Torstein Traen of Bahrain-Victorious in the GC.

Jay Vine tried to bridge the gap to UAE Team Emirates mate Ayuso when 165 kilometers of the stage remained, and the riders were fifteen kilometers from the summit of Port del Canto. Other riders joined Vine and contributed to the chase work. The chase group got reshuffled and several breakaway attempts were launched from the main peloton group, where Visma-Lease a Bike and Bahrain-Victorious riders were monitoring the situation and trying to control the race.

Ayuso had formed an advantage of twenty seconds with ten kilometers of the climb left to conquer. But 160 strenuous kilometers remained of today’s stage 7, and the Spaniard was still solo in front.

Juan Ayuso did not manage to increase his advantage in the following kilometers and Mads Pedersen surprisingly launched a solo breakaway attempt as the riders approached the summit of Port del Canto.

Ayuso fought hard and managed to get himself and his Colnago bike first across the summit line. He banked the most points for the KOM classification. Mads Pedersen was the next rider to reach the mountaintop. The Lidl-Trek rider was now joined by Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost). While Ayuso continued solo on the descent, the chase group expanded and Pedersen, Vine and Quinn were joined by nine other riders. The group was fifteen seconds behind Ayuso, while the main peloton group was thirty seconds behind the Spanish conquistador.

Ayuso joined forces with the chase group on the descent and the thirteen-rider group pressed on though the long valley section while approaching the second categorized climb of the day. The front group had a time advantage of two minutes with 120 kilometers of the stage remaining.

The main peloton group was spearheaded by riders from Bahrain-Victorious, who were protecting its general classification leader Torstein Traeen. Visma-Lease a Bike was monitoring the situation immediately behind them, but the front group had been allowed to expand its advantage to more than three minutes, and it appeared the breakaway optimists might possibly end up fighting for a stage victory.

Ninety kilometers of stage 7 remained, and the front group was approaching the Puerto de la Creu de Perves (Category 2 climb) with a lead of approximately four minutes and ninety kilometers remaining. Riders from Bahrain-Victorious were still delivering the hard chase work in the front part of the main peloton.

Jay Vine earned the most points for the KOM classification on Puerto de la Creu de Perves. He was followed by Joel Nicolau and Sean Quinn – and the rest of the riders in the breakaway group. The riders entered the fast descent with a lead of less than four minutes over the main peloton.

The next mountain on today’s climbing menu was Coll de l’Espina, which was also a Category 2 climb. It would be the final climbing challenge before the Category 1 Cerler Huesca La Magia, which would take the riders to the finish line of stage 7.

The front group entered Coll de l’Espina with a lead of approximately four minutes over the chasing main peloton group. No changes had been made to the front group when three kilometers remained of the climb to the summit line.

Jay Vine attacked from the front group in the final kilometer of the climb and secured more points for the KOM classification. Sean Quinn was the next rider to reach the summit line. He was joined by Dario Frigo. The remaining riders in the breakaway followed ten seconds later.

Thirty-five kilometers remained and the twelve-man front group was 03:50 minutes ahead of the main peloton, where general classification favorites such as Jonas Vingegaard and Joao Almeida were monitoring the situation.

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) had impressively managed to drag himself along in the high mountains of today’s stage. The Dane now received his reward when he secured the maximum points for the points classification in the intermediate sprint in Benasque. Fourteen kilometers of the stage now remained, and the riders were approaching the Cerler Huesca La Magia climb, which would take them to the finish line of today’s stage of this year’s Vuelta a Espana.

After a lackluster performance earlier in the stage, the Visma-Lease a Bike moved to the front of the main peloton with slightly more than ten kilometers left of the stage. The riders were now setting a fast pace in support of team leader Jonas Vingegaard. Meanwhile, the advantage of the front group had been reduced to three minutes, which caused Juan Ayuso to launch a solo attack from the front group. The final climb on today’s racing menu was now being contested.

Ayuso was still solo in front when six kilometers remained. Marco Frigo and Raul Garcia Pierna had formed a chase duo and were 54 seconds behind the Spaniard. Quinn, Harold Tejada, Brieuc Rolland and Kevin Vermaerke were 01:10 minutes behind the frontman.

UAE Team Emirates replaced riders from Visma-Lease a Bike at the front of the general classification favorites group when six kilometers of the stage remained. Approximately fifteen riders were now in the GC favorites group and GC leader Torstein Traen was still in the group in his red jersey.

Joao Almeida attacked from the GC favorites group with four kilometers left and Jonas Vingegaard immediately responded as did Giulio Ciccone. The other riders from the GC group caught up.

Ayuso pressed on solo in front and had a lead of more than a minute when 1.5 kilometers of the stage remained. Meanwhile, Frigo left Garcia Pierna behind further back and initiated a solo chase. But the Italian rider would likely be unable to reel in the Spaniard before the finish line.

Juan Ayuso entered the final kilometer solo and continued his courageous and powerful effort all the way to the finish line. 22-year-old Ayuso crossed the finish line as winner of stage 7 of Vuelta a Espana for UAE Team Emirates.

While Marco Frigo was the second rider to reach the finish line, Marc Soler attacked from the GC favorites group. Vingegaard and the other GC favorites did not react. Raul Garcia Pierna completed the stage podium for Arkea B & B Hotels.

The main GC favorites crossed the finish line together and with no time differences between the competitors.

Torstein Traen remains general classification leader following today’s stage and will wear the red jersey for Bahrain-Victorious in tomorrow’s stage.

Saturday’s stage 8 of Vuelta a Espana 2025 will take the riders down from a mountain plateau on a 163.5-kilometer route from Monzon Templario to Zaragoza in the Aragon region of northeastern Spain. Expect the general classification favorites and climbing aces to rest their tired legs while sprinters such as Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Orluis Aular (Movistar Team) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) battle for a stage victory in a mass sprint finish.