Ayuso bounces back to win Vuelta stage seven

Juan Ayuso won the white jersey at the 2023 Vuelta a Espana

Spain's Juan Ayuso claimed victory on stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana as he bounced back from his struggles in the Pyrenees a day earlier.

Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was dropped on the final climb in the first mountain stage of this year's race on Thursday and lost significant time in the general classification in his bid to challenge favourite Jonas Vingegaard.

But the 22-year-old returned to his best on Friday's 188km stretch, which started at Andorra la Vella and finished at Cerler, to win his first individual Vuelta stage.

"After the Giro, when I won my first Grand Tour stage, to win a stage here in the Vuelta, which is my favourite race, it's amazing," said Ayuso.

"The way I won the race especially, I will remember always and I am super proud."

Italy's Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) finished one minute 15 seconds behind Ayuso for second place while Spain's Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels) was third.

Norway's Torstein Traeen (Bahrain Victorious) retained the red jersey after fighting back to finish alongside Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike).

Denmark's Vingegaard, the two-time Tour de France winner, climbed to second overall but is still 2mins 33secs behind Traeen.

Stage winner Ayuso, who was third overall in 2022 and fourth the following year, is almost seven and a half minutes behind Traeen.

"It was not an easy day and we didn't want to go," Vingegaard said. "We wanted to still try to save our energy a bit, so we decided not to do anything today."

Saturday's eighth stage will be along a flat 163.5km route from Monzon Templario to Zaragoza.

Vuelta a Espana stage seven result

1. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4hrs 49mins 41secs

2. Marco Frigo (Ita/Israel-Premier Tech) +1min 15secs

3. Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa/Arkea-B&B Hotels) +1min 21secs

4. Harold Tejada (Col/XDS-Astana) +1min 28secs

5. Sean Quinn (US/EF Education-Easy Post) same time

6. Kevin Vermaerke (US/Team Picnic-Post NL) same time

7. Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg/Lotto) same time

8. Brieuc Rolland (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +2mins 17secs

9. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2mins 30secs

10. Tom Pidcock (GB/Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +2mins 35secs

General classification after stage seven

1. Torstein Traeen (Nor/Bahrain Victorious) 25hrs 18mins 2secs

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma–Lease a Bike) +2mins 33secs

3. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2mins 41secs

4. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +2mins 42secs

5. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita/XDS-Astana) +2mins 47secs

6. Matteo Jorgenson (US/Visma-Lease a Bike) +2mins 49secs

7. Jai Hindley (Aus/Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +2mins 53secs

8. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita/Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) same time

9. Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 55secs

10. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2mins 58secs