This is how we live it 7th stage
Valley stage and happy this Friday in the Vuelta a España.
After the ecstasy caused by the victory of Jay Vine and the exhibitions of Remco Evenepoel and Enric Mas on Thursday at Pico Jano, the peloton left Cantabrian lands and set foot on Castilla y León to loosen their legs towards an Asturian weekend that will be a turning point in the race.
And he did it by prolonging the joy of Spanish cycling, because Jesús Herrada (Cofidis) gave the fans the second national victory in this edition with an exciting sprint in Cistierna, finish line (unprecedented in the Vuelta) of the seventh stage.
A tremendous finish after 183 kilometers of escape along with four companions who challenged the peloton and withstood the strength of the sprinter teams in the last kilometers.
The disconsolate tears of the 32-year-old from Cuenca at the finish line explained everything.
Marc Soler's triumph in Bilbao was the opening of the bottle of Spanish cycling, which had accumulated 121 stages without winning one of the Grand Tours, and for which the champagne continues to run in the blood of its cyclists.
After quelling the final rush of Trek, Bora, Bike Enchange and Arkea from the main pack, Wright, Sweeny, Battistella, Janssens and Herrada assumed victory was in their legs.
It was not easy, because they saw their advantage reduced from three minutes to 45 seconds that the stopwatch marked five kilometers from the finish line, but they had courage and pedals to win the battle against the peloton.
Thus, in a downhill finish, Herrada was the strongest.
He started behind Wright, took enough meters from Battistella to hold on in the final moments and won the second stage of his life in the Vuelta.
The first of his had been achieved in Ares del Maestrat in 2019, and thus completes his best performance on the World Tour circuit after his victory in the general classification of the Tour of Luxembourg, also in 2019.
Sam Bennett, in the green jersey, won the peloton sprint and collected points for his classification, but missed a good chance to win ahead of the two high-mountain stages that await in Asturias.
In a stage of almost 200 kilometers and winding terrain, the sprinters suffered on the ascent to San Glorio (22 kilometers at 5.5%), the only climb of the stage.
The Irishman was left behind and lost teammates and strength for the final stretch, as well as his competitors, while the favorites had Asturias in his head.
The escape was formed as soon as it started and despite the fact that he did not achieve a very wide advantage, he always remained strong in his fight with the peloton, where Evenepoel comfortably kept the red jersey and Juan Ayuso wore the white as the best youngster, which is owned by of the Belgian but that the Spanish, the youngest of the edition,
looks like second in the classification of the 'children' after his good form in the sixth stage.
"I surprised myself at Pico Jano. These two days of the weekend are going to be very hard, so I hope we have an easy day today," he explained before the start.
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