2018 Vuelta a Espana - Stage 7

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Tony Gallopin from AG2R La Mondiale has taken out the seventh stage of the Vuelta a Espana, from Puerto Lumbrearas to Pozo Alcon. The French rider was able to break away from a small group in the final 3km of the stage of the 185km stage, with Peter Sagan of Bora-Hansgrohe sprinting clear of the chase group behind to take second, with Alejandro Valverde of Movistar finishing in third place.

Link to stage seven route map

Stage 7 was a tough inland stage with no certainty if the finish would be left to the sprinters or with a steep hill into the finish, would the mountain climbers win. Seven riders broke away in the early part of the stage with the group lead managing to reach almost 4 minutes. The winding course saw one rider in the group, Canadian Michael Woods of EF Education First-Drapac crashing only 20km into the stage. He still managed to change his bike, patch himself up and still ride with the lead group.

Within the last 25km of the stage the lead group's lead was reduced to 1 minute, so with the final climb looming, riders in the lead bunch tried to break further from their lead group. Again Woods was the final rider to be caught by the main peloton as they continued to catch the lead group. He was caught with with less than 15km left to reach the end of the stage. The twisting and winding roads would again take their toll as several riders including former overall leader, Michal Kwiatkowski of Team Sky crashing in the final 10km of the stage.

Within the final 5km attacks came from different riders with Jesus Herrada of Cofidis, Solutions Credits breaking clear. As he faded in the final 3km, Tony Gallopin was able to bridge the gap and then drop Herrada, as he then pushed through to take the win 5 seconds ahead of the chasing group.

Overall classification after stage Six

Rudy Molard of Groupama-FDJ held onto the Red Leaders Jersey for another day and was able to extend his lead with
Kwiatkowski crashing. Alejandro Valverde has now taken his place at second on the overall standings.

1. Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJin 26 hours 44 minutes 40 seconds
2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team at 47 seconds
3. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe at 48 seconds

Tomorrow - Stage 8 Start From Linares to Almaden

Stage 8 of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana is a 195km ride from Linares and will travel in a northerly direction to Almaden. The stage will travel through the Parque Natural Sierra de Cardeña y Montoro where riders will take on a 10km climb called the Alto de Espanares which has an average gradient of 3.6%. The riders will continue in the Summer heat north to Cordoba, and then onto the final 10km of the stage. This will be a tough finish for all riders as they first take on a 2.4km hill at 3.4% incline, then a further 2km at 3.8%. The riders will then climb a the final 200m of the stage at 7%. The first three riders home on stage 8 take time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while there is an intermediate sprint at kilometer 123.6 which will award minor time bonuses.

Link to stage eight route map

I'll be covering each stage of the Vuelta A Espana, giving a breakdown of each days stage, my previous post for @cyclefeed were the results of stage six of this years Vuelta, so feel free to have a look:
https://steemit.com/cycling/@run.vince.run/2018-vuelta-a-espana-stage-6

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Please Note all maps are made by myself using Strava