Cycling-Norway's Leknessund solos to Vuelta stage-seven win, Pogacar extends lead

Norwegian Andreas Leknessund launched a successful solo attack on the final ​climb to the summit finish of Aramon Valdelinares to win ​stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday, ‌ahead ​of teammate and compatriot Tobias Johannessen on a day when their country was mourning the death of King Harald.

Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) made his move from a five-rider breakaway 7.5 km from the finish at the end of ‌the 149.8-km ride from Vall d'Alba and pulled away to win his first Grand Tour stage on his Vuelta debut. "It's been a special day for the team and also for the whole of Norway," Leknessund said.

"Obviously it's only a small thing in the bigger picture but still, it makes the day ‌more special. "I didn't expect it to be this emotional, but for sure there's so much feelings around this. I've been fighting really hard, and ‌it means a lot."

Johannessen came in 34 seconds behind, having left Belgian Wout van Aert in his wake close to the finish, with the Visma-Lease a Bike rider having to settle for third after he had made the initial attack from the off and spent most of the day out in front with Leknessund. Tadej Pogacar, winner of three stages already, was ⁠happy to ​sit back in the peloton before ⁠pulling away from his GC rivals approaching the summit to gain more seconds. The Slovenian now leads Spaniard Enric Mas by three minutes and 50 seconds.

Van Aert and Leknessund got away ⁠early and were joined by another three riders, Johannessen, Eddie Dunbar and Alexey Lutsenko coming to the top of the first of five climbs. The leaders worked together, building ​a substantial gap and at the foot of the final climb the five were one minute ahead of a chasing group of ⁠13 riders with the peloton out of the running with less than 10 km to the finish.

Leknessund was the first to try to get away, and when nobody followed he was ⁠able ​to finally claim his stage win having finished runner-up three times at this year's Giro d'Italia. "I said to Andreas that he should try to go early and then we check if the other guys are willing to work together," Johannessen said.

"That's what you always dream about when you try ⁠to be two guys in the breakaway and you can play it like this. I think we played it perfectly. "A special day with what ⁠is happening back home in Norway so ⁠we are super proud."

Felix Gall, fifth overall, tried to get away from Pogacar, but the Slovenian responded and in the end gained 16 seconds on his closest rival Mas, with compatriot Primoz Roglic a further minute behind ‌in third. Saturday's stage eight ‌is a flat 176.4-km ride from Pucol to Xeraco.