Juan Ayuso bounced back from the collapse of his general classification ambitions with a commanding solo victory atop Cerler on stage 7 of the 2025 Vuelta a España. After going on the offensive from the very first climb, the Spaniard eventually distanced Marco Frigo and the rest of a strong breakaway to win alone at the summit.
It marked UAE Team Emirates XRG’s third consecutive stage win, following back-to-back victories from Jay Vine on stages 5 and 6. Torstein Træen finished safely in the GC group behind and defended the red jersey.
The day began with an uphill start from Andorra la Vella and little respite, with the Puerto del Cantó looming almost immediately. Early attacks came quickly, and it was Juan Ayuso who made the most decisive move halfway up the climb, riding clear solo from the peloton.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliHe crested the summit first, just ahead of Mads Pedersen, who jumped from the bunch late in the climb to collect points for the intermediate sprint. After the descent, Ayuso was joined by a high-quality group of climbers including Jay Vine, Marco Frigo, Sean Quinn, Harold Tejada, Brieuc Rolland, Joel Nicolau, Raúl García Pierna, Damien Howson, Kevin Vermaerke, Eduardo Sepúlveda and Pedersen himself. With Ayuso already up the road, the 13-rider group formed the definitive move of the day.
Bahrain Victorious controlled the peloton with composure, comfortable that the break didn’t include any immediate threats to Træen’s red jersey. García Pierna was the closest on GC, sitting 4:57 down at the start of the day, giving the break just enough rope but not total freedom.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliOn the second climb, the Creu de Perves, Jay Vine accelerated to take maximum KOM points ahead of Quinn and Frigo, and later did the same on the Coll de l’Espina, where he once again attacked near the summit. It was clear his focus remained on the mountains classification rather than the stage win.
The break remained well clear into the approach to Cerler, with Mads Pedersen collecting the full 20 points at the intermediate sprint in Benasque before slipping back on the climb. As the gradient bit, the lead group began to splinter. Nicolau and Pedersen were the first to be dropped, and then Ayuso made his move.
With 11 kilometres to go, he surged clear alongside Marco Frigo. The pair built a lead of around 25 seconds over the rest, but that was short-lived. At 9.5 kilometres to go, Ayuso accelerated again, dropping Frigo and riding solo towards the summit. His gap quickly stretched to over a minute.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliBehind, García Pierna rode clear from the chasers in pursuit of Frigo. Sean Quinn was initially the third rider on the road but was soon caught by the likes of Tejada, Rolland and Vermaerke.
In the peloton, Visma | Lease a Bike had done much of the early climbing work before UAE ramped things up again. Marc Soler took over the pace-setting with João Almeida in his wheel. With around 5 km to go, Almeida launched a sharp attack, drawing out Vingegaard, Ciccone, Kuss and Bernal. They briefly gained a gap, but the group came back together. Almeida’s move didn’t do much damage in the end, though it helped reduce the group to around 15 riders. Træen remained present throughout, managing the pace and riding with control.
Soler then launched an attack of his own just outside the final kilometre, getting a handful of seconds on the rest. It was Ayuso, however, who had plenty of time to enjoy the finale. With 1 km to go, he offered a fist bump to the camera moto, fully aware he was about to win his first-ever Vuelta stage.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliIt was a performance that underlined what he had hinted after losing time on stage 6: he had the legs, but not the plan, to fight for GC. Instead, he’s now delivered UAE’s third stage win in three days, and showed once again why he remains one of the most dangerous riders in the mountains when given freedom to attack.
The GC group followed in just under three minutes behind, meaning no major changes in the overall standings. Træen keeps La Roja going into the weekend and continues to defy expectations at the head of the race.
2025 Vuelta a Espana Stage 7 result
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Main photo credit: Sprint Cycling Agency
