Van Aert wins Vuelta stage seven as O’Connor retains lead

Belgium’s Wout van Aert claimed his second win at this year’s Vuelta a Espana with a thrilling late sprint on stage seven.

Australia’s Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), who took the red jersey with a stunning solo victory on stage six, retains his overall lead.

Van Aert edged out Mathias Vacek and Pau Miquel on Friday, having been helped by team-mate Sepp Kuss, who closed the gap on then-leader Marc Soler to provide a platform for the Belgian’s victory bid.

Pavel Sivakov led entering the final 200m but was caught by Aleksandr Vlasov before Visma-Lease a Bike’s Van Aert launched himself to the front.

Van Aert leads Australian Kaden Groves by 41 points in the green jersey standings, extending the 13-point advantage he held after stage six.

The race continues on Saturday with a 159km stage between Ubede and Carzorla.

1. Wout van Aert (Bel/Visma-Lease a Bike) 4hrs 15mins 39secs

2. Mathias Vacek (Cze/Lidl-Trek) Same time

3. Pau Miquel Delgado (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma)

4. Stefan Kung (Swi/Groupama-FDJ)

5. Quinten Hermans (Bel/Alpecin-Deceuninck)

6. Quentin Pacher (Fra/Groupama-FDJ)

7. Lorenzo Rota (Ita/Intermarche-Wanty)

8. Harold Tejada (Col/Astana-Qazaqstan)

9. Max Poole (GB/DSM-firmenich PostNL)

10. George Bennett (Aus/Israel-Premier Tech)

1. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) 27hrs 44mins 7secs

2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4mins 45secs

3. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +4mins 59secs

4. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +5mins 23secs

5. Cristian Rodriguez (Spa/Arkea-B&B Hotels) +5mins 26secs

6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +5mins 29secs

7. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel/Lotto Dstny) +5mins 32secs

8. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +5mins 35secs

9. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +5mins 38secs

10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +5mins 49secs