As it happened: Sprinters battle it out on hilly day in Andalusia

Hola and bienvenidos to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the stage seven at La Vuelta a España 2024!

The neutralised start is approximately half an hour away, so let's take a look at today's route. 

A 180.5km-long route from Archidona, just north of Malaga and the Alboran sea, will head inland towards the city of Córdoba.

The route isn't too arduous but the aptly named 'Alto del 14%' climb at 25km to go, named after its 14% pinches on its upper slopes, could be the perfect place for a late attack from a GC contender keen to recoup time.

Some news from the start this morning is that both Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) won't start in Archidona. 

The Dane, who this morning was confirmed to be joining Uno-X Mobility for 2025 and 2026, is out of the race on concussion protocols. 

Before we crack on with today's racing, here's a reminder of what happened yesterday!

Ben O'Connor wins stage 6 and takes race lead

When there are winners, there are typically losers too. Here's how the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe camp reacted after they let the maillot rojo slip yesterday.

'Things got out of hand' - Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe regret time gap secured by Ben O’Connor at Vuelta a España

It's Ben O'Connor's first-ever day in a Grand Tour leader's jersey today, so a fresh bike is only right!

There's plenty of Australian fans at the start in Archidona showing their support for Ben O'Connor on his first day in the red jersey.

And the riders are rolling out from the neutralised start!

The start town of Archidona is a picture-postcard destination in the region. 

It is a Historical Artistic Complex with the Baroque style Plaza Ochavada, dating back to 1786, and the Al-Andalus castle.

It's marginally cooler so far today, just 33.2 °C.

180km to go

And the flag is dropped to give the official start for stage 7.

It's a familiar face to make the first move today as Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) accelerates from the bunch.

Isasa was the last survivor from a four-rider break on stage three.

He holds a 0:38 gap to the bunch.

170 km to go

Isasa's lead has stretched to 1:24. Surely someone will come and join him?

The gap has extended to two minutes for our lone leader, it could be a long day for the man from Urretxu.

The ideal first day in the GC lead for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale with a sole leader to chase down.

It looks set to be just Isasa out front for the day - he leads by 4:06 now.

Archidona, unsurprisingly, proved to be a tremendous setting for a stage start.

The pace has really gone out of the peloton, with Isasa now holding a five minute advantage.

There might not have been many breakaway moves today in Andalusia but there's been plenty of transfer moves this Friday.

We'll share two of the big ones shortly.

The Olympic road race silver medallist becomes the latest rider to move from Jumbo-Visma to Lidl-Trek.

Anna Henderson switches Visma-Lease A Bike for Lidl-Trek in 2025

And another British prospect has joined Ineos as they look to steady themselves amidst management changes.

Ineos Grenadiers sign Samuel Watson on two-year deal

145km to go

The gap has really stretched out now. Isasa leads by over seven minutes. 

Not only did Ben O'Connor put on a Grand Tour leader's jersey for the first time thanks to yesterday's win, but he also completed the set of Grand Tour stage wins.

The Aussie won on stage 17 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia, then stage 9 of the following year's Tour de France.

It means he's the 111th rider to complete the hat-trick.

8:16 for Isasa now. We wonder how long the peloton are going to give the 22-year-old.

The last time Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale held a Grand Tour leader's jersey was at the 2009 Tour de France with Rinaldo Nocentini. The Italian held the jersey for a third of the race before eventually finishing 13th on GC.

130km to go

Still eight minutes between our sole leader and the bunch. 

Let's go through the classification leaders while the pace is low. 

There's not much separating them currently, but Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) leads Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the points classification, with 158 points to the Australian's 145. Pavel Bittner (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) sits in third with 81.

Unsurprisingly, with the intermediate sprint the next obstacle on the road, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Visma-Lease a Bike are the teams pulling in the bunch.

In the King of the Mountains classification, Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny) leads the standings with 16 points.

Filippo Zana (Team Jayco AlUla) isn't far behind with 11 points.

120km to go

Isasa's lead has been trimmed to 7:30. Fun fact: Xabier Isasa has been in breakaways for 28% of the Grand Tour stages he's raced in...which is a total of seven.

It's a slow day, forgive us!

Lastly, the young rider's classification. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took over from Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) after his performance from the break yesterday.

The German leads the Italian by 11 seconds, with Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) a further three seconds back.

Interesting comments from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider Nico Denz at today's start.

"Obviously, [Ben O’Connor] did a tremendous job. Really, really strong out there. Definitely, a big performance. Our goal was to give the jersey away, and now we’ll try and get it back. We’ll see, but not today.”

Now, we don't want to heap any more pressure on Ben O'Connor after yesterday's stage win.

But, his win yesterday mirrors Sepp Kuss' performance last year, when the American won stage 6 - distancing rivals on the GC - and then went on to win the red jersey.

105km to go

There's 70km until our intermediate sprint in Córdoba. We'll then head back out of town to tackle the day's only categorised climb.

The gap is down to 5:20 as Isasa showers himself with a water bottle supplied by a supporter. 

The gap continues to slowly dwindle, even as the peloton takes on some lunch.

Just over 50km until the intermediate sprint.

Looking up the road, Córdoba is the destination. 

Did you know that it is host to more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other city in the world?

The Mezquita Catedral is a must-see if you're in the area.

The last time La Vuelta visited Córdoba was in 2021 when Danish rider Magnus Cort Nielsen was the stage winner from a large bunch sprint.

It's not a pretty job for Isasa today, but he's giving his team plenty of screen time.

A fun first morning in the maillot rojo for Ben O'Connor earlier.

75km to go

The gap is down to 4:30 now as the riders roll through undulating terrain.

The Castillo de Belmez, situated on a steep hill overlooking the town it's named after, makes for a stunning backdrop as the bunch storms towards Córdoba.

If you're twiddling your thumbs while we wait for the Alto del 14% to arrive, why not take a look at one of our latest long-reads?

A tale of two American Olympic champions 40 years apart

While it's not a GC day per se, we thought we'd look over some of the winners and losers of the red jersey battle so far.

Even though he lost the red jersey yesterday, Primož Roglič has started La Vuelta well with a win on stage 4. 

João Almeida and Enric Mas have also shown strong signs, while youngster Lennert Van Eetvelt battled well against Roglič on stage 4.

The likes of defending champion Sepp Kuss and Mikel Landa have had steady starts. 

However, Ineos' Carlos Rodriguez and Thymen Arensman will be slightly underwhelmed with their displays so far.

53km to go

15km until the intermediate sprint and Isasa still leads by three minutes.

Isasa is just 10km away from the sprint in Córdoba, he'll head down a gentle descent into town and should claim maximum points all being well.

The tempo has increased in the bunch, just 2:20 worth of a gap now.

There'll be some battles for best position in the bunch as the intermediate sprint comes into view.

This fight for position has increased the tempo further, with the gap now sub-two minutes.

On offer at the intermediate sprint in just over 2km:

20 points for first, then 17,15,13 and 10 points for the following four riders across the line. Isasa is pretty much guaranteed the maximum 20 points.

40km to go

The Basque rider heads through the finish line, 40km before we'll pass through it for real. 

50 seconds is the gap.

Isasa gets his first reward for his efforts today. 20 points and a cheque to his name.

Groves beats van Aert to claim second. No other sprinters contested the sprint.

And that's all she wrote for Xabier Isasa, as he's swallowed up by the bunch with 38km remaining.

Just 10km until the summit of the Alto del 14% as the road begins to ramp up.

The climb is officially 7.4km long, with an average of 5.6%.

However, as is perhaps obvious, there are ramps in the upper section that reach  (yep, you guessed it!) 14%.

The bunch distances KOM leader Sylvain Moniquet as Visma-Lease a Bike up the pace in a bid to shake out the sprinters.

Jay Vine is a surprise casualty from this increase in pace. He's dropped from the peloton with 4km still to climb.

It's now Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe on the front, setting a searing tempo. 

The speed isn't troubling Ben O'Connor currently but it might put some of his teammates to the sword.

Pavel Bittner is one of the sprinter casualties that won't contest today's finish.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are burning quite a few matches here, with both Martínez and Liopwitz putting in big efforts and then pulling aside. 

Aleksandr Vlasov is guiding Primož Roglič now. We've got a GC battle for the time being. 

Thymen Arensman and Cian Uijtdebroeks are both going backwards. 

Rogliċ accelerates, followed by Carapaz, O'Connor and others.

Despite the GC contenders taking over on the climb, Wout van Aert remains in that group. 

There's about 20-25 riders left in the peloton.

KOM (alto del 14%)

Primož Roglič takes the maximum five points and six bonus seconds over the top.

Crash

Kaden Groves hits the deck after clipping Nairo Quintana's wheel as they reach the summit. The fact that the Australian was alongside the Colombian shows how well he was climbing, but it's unlikely to be his day now.

20km to go

Sepp Kuss, who took the four bonus seconds on the climb, is animating proceedings on the descent.

Marc Soler has managed to move away from the GC bunch on the descent. 

He's got a small but solid gap of 17 seconds at the moment.

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale are now pulling in the GC group. 

Soler has reached the main descent with a lead of just 10 seconds.

15km to go

Berthet's efforts have nearly reeled in Soler but he's not making it easy. 

Felix Gall and a number of other Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale riders are also in the group. 

Crash

In the chase group, Edward Planckaert crashes on a sharp corner.

Soler's gap is back out to 20 seconds.

Attack by Wout van Aert. 

He's not waiting for cohesion in the GC group as he accelerates off the front.

Pavel Sivakov is attempting to hunt down van Aert to protect his teammate Marc Soler's lead.

Van Aert has been reeled in. Sepp Kuss immediately counter-attacks, taking four or five riders, including the red jersey, with him.

No luck for Kuss.

The defending champion is straight back to the front though, attempting to reel in Soler for his teammate Wout van Aert.

Quinten Hermans is one of the other fast finishers in the chase group.

5km to go

The gap is slender for Soler.

Marc Soler is giving off quite a grimace as he continues out ahead, but there's only 50m between him and the bunch now.

With 3.5km to go, Soler is tagged. 

The second group on the road have appeared out of nowhere.

David Gaudu springs a late attack amidst the confusion.

Plenty of late attacks now, Sivakov the next to go.

1km to go

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are trying to reel in Sivakov but it's proving tricky.

Wout van Aert is in second wheel but the chase pack are still behind the UAE man with 500m to go.

Wout van Aert launches though and once he takes the lead, no one can catch him! 

The Belgian wins another stage at La Vuelta.

A top teammate performance from the defending champion Sepp Kuss. 

The American buried himself in the final 10km to bring the race back together and it paid off for Visma-Lease a Bike.

It's second place for Mathias Vacek, with Pau Miquel taking a brilliant third for Equipo Kern Pharma.

Here's the top 10 from stage seven. 

Here's some reaction from Sepp Kuss, teammate of stage 7 winner Wout van Aert:

"We always had this stage in mind for Wout but we knew it would be hard, especially with the pace on the last climb. 

"The pace was hard but when I saw Wout there I knew he was on a good day. It was a 'sufferfest' to pull Soler back but it feels like a victory for me too, it was really nice to be there with Wout."

He waited six months for one, then takes two wins in the space of a week!

Now onto the stage winner and green jersey, Wout van Aert.

"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. 

"From the top, I found myself with Sepp in the front group, 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. I had goosebumps in the wheel and just wanted to finish it off."

Van Aert, who now leads Kaden Groves by 41 points in the green jersey standings, continued:

"In our team, it's not only about winning but performing as a team and making challenging plans. A part of that is that everybody is there to sacrifice himself for the other. The defending champion pulling for you, that's a huge example of our team philosophy."

A relaxed reaction from red jersey leader Ben O'Connor after today's stage.

"It was a nice day. I wasn't surprised he [Roglič] went for the bonus but once again, it wasn't like an explosive attack on the climb so I'm pretty comfortable with how it turned out. 

"I can't really do much against Primož's sprint for the bonuses, but you have to take a lot of bonuses to make up that amount of time."