Stage 7: Vall d'Alba → Aramon Valdelinares: The Norwegian pulls off a surprise, the contest trembles

At the summit of Aramon Valdelinares, Andreas Leknessund played the spoilsport in perfect climber-adventurer style: starting from the breakaway, he settled his business solo ahead of his compatriot Tobias Halland Johannessen and a Wout Van Aert still picking up green points. Pogačar, meanwhile, keeps the red and polka dot jerseys without flinching.

Let's talk numbers: Leknessund as winner was a needle in a haystack. Only one player out of 819 found the right name, and that's Kobe F. who pulls off the coup of the week. One. Out of eight hundred nineteen. Hats off. On the complete podium side, 13 players got it right: a rare performance in a contest this size. The winner's nationality ("other") was ticked by only 39 participants, and the breakaway lasting to the end convinced 259 players out of 819: not bad for such an unpredictable day. On the other hand, the best Franco-Belgian bet smiled on an inspired bunch: Gilles, Marie C., Romabert, Number10fenomeno, Charlotte W, DikkePodium, Daancop, Phoenixcomet, watts_riri, ngerard, Mich_Mich, Max79 and JJacobs had all seen that Wout Van Aert would be the best of ours: 36 out of 819, that's not nothing.

On the general standings, Yvette still wears the red jersey of this Vuelta contest with 200 points and 35 lengths ahead of second place: five stages finished in the lead, and not a shadow of weakness. Behind, things are moving fast. MeesterFlandrien climbs 7 places to settle in 2nd (165 pts), EnzLef does the same (+7, 4th, 161 pts). The real rockets of the day are BenoMerc and GrandVdb, both at 33 points on the stage: the best performance of the day also shared by Dede59, GladiatorFalcon9, MisterLegolas and NieCop: which propels BenoMerc to 5th place (+15 places) and GrandVdb to 6th (+17 places). NieCop even enjoys a surge of 29 ranks to land in 29th. Laura climbs back 16 places (19th), LIPOU 30 (22nd), Stijn Will 21 (25th), Fabrillo 23 (27th): the middle of the table is in full ferment.

But the comeback of the stage: and perhaps of the Vuelta: belongs to Kobe F.: his stroke of genius on Leknessund earns him a leap of 378 places to land in 214th place. watts_riri and Daan23 are not far behind either with three-digit progressions. At the bottom of the table, a good hundred participants come away without a single point tonight: we won't name anyone, but we hope the Spanish mountains inspire you better next time.