DISCUSSION Vuelta a España Stage 7 | Is anarchy reigning in UAE? Is Jonas Vingegaard not in top shape?

The seventh stage of the Vuelta a España was the first high mountain day, featuring a tough uphill finish and three prior categorized climbs that saw Juan Ayuso bouncing back from yesterday’s explosion.

The start of the stage was chaotic, with plenty of men attacking to be in the breakaway of the day. The first ascent of the day, the never ending Port del Cantó (24.9km at 4.4%), allowed Juan Ayuso to distance from peloton and go on a solo adventure. The Spaniard lost a lot of time the previous stage and had already warned that he wanted to immediately switch his focus to stage wins.

He reached the summit all by himself, with a chasing group joining him during the descent. The riders in question were his teammate Jay Vine, Mads Pedersen, Sean Quinn, Damien Howson, Harold Tejada, Brieuc Rolland, Joel Nicolau, Raúl García, Kevin Vermaerke, Eduardo Sepúlveda and Marco Frigo.

The peloton was content with the situation, and they allowed the gap to grow all the way to four minutes. Bahrain took responsibility to pull, but they didn’t have the strength to significantly reduce the gap. The kilometres kept passing by and Bahrain didn’t receive help from other teams, so it was clear the victory was in front.

UAE with Juan Ayuso and Jay Vine were the obvious favourites, and they proved why. Vine sacrificed himself to help Ayuso, and the Spaniard didn’t let him down. In the final climb of the day, Cerler (12.1km at 5.9%), he launched the first attack, which only Frigo could match. After some meters, he struck again with a ferocious acceleration for which Frigo never had an answer for, flying solo and taking the win.

Behind them, the GC men didn’t want to go to war. Visma set the pace for most of the climb, until Almeida tried his luck with an attack that only Vingegaard and Ciccone could initially follow. However, he didn’t find cooperation and had to slow down, allowing the rest of the contenders to come back and arriving all together at the finish line.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

First day in this race we have a proper breakaway fight, with Visma showing they did not want to give freedom to the UAE riders. That will be their priority. Still a day for the breakaway, one rider above the rest and that was unsurprising wasn't it? Juan Ayuso lost time yesterday but it was also evident that he didn't go to the limit, and his stage-winning ambitions were honest. On the first opportunity he has done so, in style and in convincing fashion too, it was a proper strong performance.

This is his first Vuelta win and it will mean a lot to him, but above all take a lot of weight off the shoulders. It's easy to forget also he is 22. 10 years ago a rider of his age would very rarely be aiming for a Grand Tour GC; whilst there are pundits and commentators that even today claim that despite his and UAE's words, they were lying and Ayuso actually did crack yesterday and did come here full-on for GC.

Anyhow for UAE this is a success and now both Ayuso and Vine have taken wins, which means they should be more willing to work for João Almeida. Marc Soler showed that availability today too, and overall all riders did good. But no-one wanted to attack the tough summit finish and so we ended the day with another stalemate. Spencer Martin had argued that the tight gaps could make the racing more boring, perhaps we are seeing the effects of that.

Cycling remains a mystery. One day you struggle to follow average riders, the next you take the first Vuelta stage win of your career. Did Juan Ayuso really suffer yesterday, or was he already calculating for the days ahead? Only he knows the truth, no matter what he said in interviews beforehand. Still, to attack today and then drop everyone a hundred kilometers later is extraordinary.

There is no doubt Ayuso belongs among the world’s best, given all he has achieved already. One thing is certain: at such a young age, he will always be a rider under heavy scrutiny. He will need to learn to live with that—and then those fingers in his ears will no longer be necessary.

What can I add to what I said about Ayuso and UAE after yesterday's stage? Nothing. Today's stage only proved that I was right. Ayuso is not in bad shape, Ayuso does not work and will not work for the team, Ayuso is a spoilt boy who, when he realises he will not be the star of the team or the race, switches off and sulks.

As harsh as the truth may be, today I saw Visma racing as a team for their leader and Emirates wanting the mountain for Jay Vine and the stage for Ayuso. How can they give guarantees to the leader for the general classification, João Almeida? By wasting energy unnecessarily? I don't understand the team's strategy or plans.

Today, João Almeida wanted to attack on the final climb and had a teammate by his side... Marc Soler. Vine and Ayuso, who could and should have been alongside Almeida. If Almeida wants to finish in the top three, he will have to rely on his own work, because once again it was clear that the team will not be 100% committed. Poor Ayuso, who was so bad yesterday and is a hero today. Does anyone still believe in the character and word of this Spanish cyclist?

A brilliant victory for Juan Ayuso, who shows that when he has legs he is one of the best in the world. The problem is that he doesn't usually show it on a regular basis. Even so, we have to take the positives. Spanish cycling enjoys the victory of a national rider, in addition to the 3rd place of Raúl García Pierna. The news will undoubtedly please a Movistar Team that has closed his signing for 2026.

On the other hand, tremendous disappointment (one more) of the riders in the general classification. Torstein Traeen keeps the red jersey without breaking a sweat. Very little from Vingegaard, Almeida, Ciccone and company. They had it in their sights to sentence many rivals when the 3 seemed to go on the final climb, but decided to stop and enter with all the others at the finish line.

Joao Almeida is one of the top favourites to win the Vuelta, but his biggest rival is Jonas Vingegaard. And when you are fighting against someone like the Dane, you need as much help as you possibly can get. UAE’s team is objectively weaker than Visma, especially in the mountains. So allowing the best helper Almeida could have in the mountains BY FAR - someone who had come to the Vuelta with the GC in mind, someone that finished in the podium being just 19 years old… - is just extremely questionable tactics to say the least.

The problem of Ayuso is that he is just selfish, not a team player. He is good, very good. Nobody can deny that, and today’s victory proved it. He went solo in the first climb with more than 150km to go, stayed by himself until the descent, was caught by a group of riders that should be fresher, and still spanked all of them.

Impressive performance, but the team’s main goal is not that. UAE is fighting for the GC, Almeida is fighting against Vingegaard, and who did he have by his side in the decisive climb? Only Marc Soler, nobody else. Imagine if Pogacar was left stranded by his main domestiques at the Tour de France, that is something unconceivable to happen. But a Pogacarless UAE is nothing but anarchy.

Ayuso already made it very clear in an interview that, after his GC ambitions seem to be over, he will focus on himself, on getting into the breaks and fighting for stage wins. And only if that doesn’t work, then MAYBE he will see whether Almeida needs some help. That is not how the best team in the world (76 wins this season and counting) should operate.

Visma was the complete opposite, showing unity and protecting the leader at every moment. Almeida will be fighting basically alone against Visma and the rest of the teams if this keeps happening, so any success he can obtain will be despite UAE, not thanks to them.

Ayuso only wants to be a leader, and for that to happen he has to leave UAE. He needs a team where he knows he will be the absolute leader at every race he goes to, and that simply cannot be the case in UAE. Staying in the team will just be harmful for the team in the long term, and it is not like they will miss him too much considering all the talent and potential they have.

I have to say I am surprised with Torstein Traeen’s performance. I didn’t think he would lose the red jersey today, but I definitely thought he would lose some time after the GC men tested their legs. That wasn’t the case, and he even outperformed riders such as Mikel Landa or Santiago Buitrago. And on top of that, he was super active at the beginning of the stage, closing breakaway attempts of dangerous rivals such as Vervaeke in first person. Let’s see how long he can hold on to it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he can keep it until the Angliru.

The main favourites barely attacked each other once again, it has been a bland first block of mountains. Today only Almeida proposed something, but Vingegaard easily followed him and refused to collaborate, so there was another stalemate. Visma has showed a conservative approach so far, is it because they just want to wait for the next mountain stages or because Vingegaard is actually not feeling great? He didn’t show any weaknesses so far, but he has barely been put to the test, so maybe something is not working for him as usual.

Finally, something else worth mentioning is Tiberi’s explosion. Even if he came to the Vuelta with the GC in mind, he adapted to the new situation of his teammate Torstein Traeen leading the race and worked for him today, even if that made him lose over 10 minutes. Some people should take notes…