A big day for Norway, after a sad one for the Scandinavian country. King Harald V died on Thursday, but Uno-x as Andreas Leknessund turned an aggressive start to Stage 7 of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a into a beautiful finale. The Norwegian rode away from Wout van Aert on the final climb to take the dub.<\/p>\n
Leknessund was part of the action almost immediately after the 149.8-km stage from Vall d\u2019Alba got underway. Van Aert made the first move, and Leknessund and Milan Vader quickly joined him at the front.<\/p>\n
Stage 7 recap<\/p>\n
The breakaway was eventually joined by Tobias Halland Johannessen, Alexey Lutsenko and Eddie Dunbar, forming a five-rider group that managed to stay clear as the peloton settled into the mountainous stage.<\/p>\n
Van Aert was able to collect valuable points at the intermediate sprint\u201320 in fact\u2013but the decisive action came on the final ascent to Valdelinares. Leknessund proved strongest when the road tilted sharply upward. He took off and made a gap that grew to just under half a minute.<\/p>\n
Johannessen helped keep the chase under control, while Van Aert was unable to match Leknessund\u2019s pace.<\/p>\n
The Norwegian crossed the finish line 34 seconds ahead of his teammate<\/a>. Van Aert came in third at 47 seconds.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar pads his lad<\/p>\n