Vuelta 2026: Leknessund solos to victory, Pogacar cements lead

fotobureau Cor VosAndreas Leknessund is among the first to attack, alongside Wout van Aert. The pair are later joined by Tobias Halland Johannessen, Alexey Lutsenko en Eddie Dunbar, but the Norwegian proves to be the strongest of the group, riding clear of the others on the final climb. He solos to victory, while Van Aert finishes third and takes the green jersey from Tadej Pogacar. (Slideshow route/profile)

Stage 7 Results – 2026 Vuelta

1. Andreas Leknessund (nor) 3:49:47
2. Tobias Halland Johannessen (nor) + 0:34
3. Wout van Aert (bel) + 0:47
4. Jakob Omrzel (slo) + 0:58
5. Juan Felipe Rodriguez (col) + 1:13
6. Iván Sosa (col) + 1:16
7. Alexey Loetsenko (kaz) + 1:44
8. Eddie Dunbar (irl) + 1:51
9. Léo Bisiaux (fra) + 1:53
10. Raúl García Pierna (spa) + 2:14

19. Tadej Pogacar (slo) + 4:23
20. Felix Gall (aut) + 4:29
21. Enric Mas (spa) + 4:39
22. Sepp Kuss (usa) + 4:52
23. Primoz Roglic (slo) s.t.
24. Oscar Onley (gbr) s.t.

27. Harold Tejada (col) + 5:39
28. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 5:42
30. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 5:45
74. Ramses Debruyne (bel) 14:07

GC after stage 7

1. Tadej Pogacar
2. Enric Mas (spa) + 3:50
3. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 4:50
4. Felix Gall (aut) + 5:01
5. Sepp Kuss (usa) + 6:05
6. Oscar Onley (gbr) + 6:06
7. Richard Carapaz (ecu) + 6:12
8. Mattias Skjelmose (den) + 7:17
9. Harold Tejada (col) + 7:46
10. Gregor Mühlberger (aut) + 9:29

Race report
Wout van Aert, Milan Vader and Andreas Leknessund attack from the flag. No one reacts at first, but then Paul Ourselin, Timo Roosen, Iván Cobo and Hannes Wilksch slip away.

The peloton takes longer to wake up and then turns up the pace. As a result, the gap to the three riders out front drops from more than 1 minutes to 1, while the chasers are swallowed up.

The acceleration proves too much for Vader, who is forced to let the other two riders go.

Alexey Lutsenko, Léo Bisiaux and Filippo Zana are next to set off in pursuit before 18 riders, including Tobias Halland Johannessen and Eddie Dunbar, bridge across on the Puerto de Remolcador.

At one point on the climb, the peloton trails Van Aert and Leknessund by more than 2 minutes, but the gap later comes back down to around 1 minute. That prompts Valentin Paret-Peintre and a few other riders to make the jump across to the chasing group.

Meanwhile, Johannessen, Lutsenko and Dunbar have gone clear and join to the leaders just before the summit. Leknessund takes the maximum KOM points, while the chasers crest the climb half a minute behind. By this point, the peloton seems to have finally given up the chase, trailing by more than 2 minutes.

On the Alto de Zucaina, the five escapees pull further clear of both the chasers and the peloton. Leknessund is first over the top there as well.

For dozens of kilometres, the situation remains unchanged, but the chase group up the pace on the Puerto de San Rafael. Van Aert crests the summit first, with the chasers coming through just under 1 minute later. The peloton trails by 7 minutes.

Leknessund distances his rivals on the final climb with 7 kilometres to go. With Dunbar and Lutsenko dropped behind him, the Norwegian solos to an impressive victory. In the closing stages, Johannessen rides away from Van Aert to finish second, although the Belgian gets what he came for as well: the green jersey.

Meanwhile, further down the climb, Felix Gall puts his fellow GC contenders under pressure. Tadej Pogacar and Enric Mas are able to follow, while the others have to let a gap open. But when Pogacar accelerates, Gall and Mas are soon left behind. The Slovenian gains 6 seconds on Gall and 16 on Mas.

Another interesting read: route 7th stage 2026 Vuelta a España.