Matej Mohoric ( UAE Team Emirates) drives to the line during stage 7 at the Vuelta (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates) took the biggest win of his career Friday at the Vuelta a Espana, jumping away from his breakaway companions on a short descent before the finish of stage 7 and seizing the solo victory in Cuenca.
The 207km stage from Llíria to Cuenca was tailor-made for a breakaway, with a generally uphill profile featuring three categorised climbs and one intermediate sprint. The bunch appeared to be on board with that plan, and soon after the start a group of 14 formed including Mohoric, Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Richard Carapaz, Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Pawel Poljanski (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r La Mondiale), Floris De Tier (LottoNL-Jumbo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ), Luis Angel Mate, Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Rafael Reis (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Aldemar Reyes and Jetse Bol (Manzana-Postobon).
On the final climb of the day the lead group had been whittled down to just Mohoric, Rojas, De Gendt, and Poljanski, and the 22-year-old Slovenian was able to open a gap on the descent that he would carry all the way to the finish, where he took the solo win ahead of Poljanski, Rojas and De Gendt in fourth.
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