Vuelta a Espana: Jesús Herrada wins stage 7 as breakaway holds off peloton on hilly day

The Vuelta a Espana has seen another complicated day with a lot of drama, as the peloton fought hard to bring in the breakaway all day long, but unsuccessfully. The breakaway succeeded, with Jesús Herrada timing his sprint perfectly and taking the win in Cistierna.

It was a day where the breakaway stood a chance, and the start was quite fast with many trying to go into the head of the race. Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Fred Wright (Bahrain - Victorious), Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal), Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Omer Goldstein (Israel - Premier Tech) went up the road.

Goldstein struggled as the riders got on the Puerto de San Glorio which was a key part to the day. Trek - Segafredo and Team BikeExchange - Jayco and Trek - Segafredo had controlled the breakaway until then, with the American team putting in a big effort to damage the peloton in the ascent - with some success, as Sam Bennett and several others were distanced towards the summit.

The gap was of three minutes to the breakaway however, and the peloton regained it's almost compact form. That however is what has later seen Arkéa and BORA also assist in the chase, one however that always looked incredibly complicated to reel in as the quintet had 50 seconds of lead into the final five kilometers.

It soon became apparent that the breakaway would ride for the win. Fred Wright was the man to beat, but he started his sprint from the front and in the final meters Jesús Herrada came through to take an emotional win. Samuele Battistella rode to a very narrow second place with Wright finishing in third. Sam Bennett won the sprint in the peloton shortly after.