Vuelta a Espana 2016: Results, Highlights and Standings After Friday's Stage 7
Jonas van Genechten of IAM Cycling took advantage of a late crash to win Stage 7 of the 2016 Vuelta a Espana on Friday.
The Belgian crossed the finish line first after a crash held up the bulk of the peloton in the final corner and made a bunch sprint impossible. Tinkoff-Saxo's Alberto Contador was among the riders to go down, but he did finish the stage.
BMC's Darwin Atapuma remains the overall leader. Here's a look at the results from Stage 7, courtesy of CyclingHub:
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The current standings:
| 1 | Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team | 25:41:21 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:08 |
| 3 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky | 0:00:42 |
| 4 | Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team | 0:00:48 |
| 5 | Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-BikeExchange | |
| 6 | Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky | 0:01:09 |
| 7 | Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange | 0:01:32 |
| 8 | Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx-Quick Step | 0:01:38 |
| 9 | Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 10 | David de la Cruz Melgarejo (Spa) Etixx-Quick Step | 0:02:11 |
Recap
Stage 7 had a hilly profile perfectly suited for puncheurs and adventurous riders looking for their moments in the spotlight, and with a massive stage coming up on Saturday, the top riders were expected to lay low and let their less heralded companions steal the show.
Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski didn't start the stage, a blow for team leader Chris Froome, who will now enter the mountain stages with one less domestique.
A group of six riders attacked and formed a breakaway before the first categorised climb of the day, with Victor Campenaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Vegard Laengen (IAM Cycling) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) settling into a nice tempo.
BMC took the lead in the peloton but barely increased the pace, and the six worked together well and quickly built their lead. Etixx-Quick Step made no effort to help BMC in the chase despite their success in the sprint stages.
But the work of BMC paid off, as the break's lead stalled just below the four-minute mark. Eurosport's Felix Lowe noticed their riders seemed to be enjoying themselves:
The gap soon dropped below the two-minute mark, and the sprint teams decided against chasing further for the time, ensuring they wouldn't catch the six too soon. Astana didn't follow suit, however, and the break was caught with 43 kilometres left to ride.
Astana kept the pace high, and the sprinters started to struggle keeping up. Dario Cataldo broke from the pack, and a countermove produced five leaders, including Gianluca Brambilla of Etixx.
BMC and Sky joined forces in the chase, and Trek Segafredo joined in as well, keeping the gap below 30 seconds. Cannondale's Simon Clarke and Astana's Luis Leon Sanchez survived the initial onslaught, but they too were caught, and another bunch sprint was seemingly inevitable.
A crash in the final corner ruined those plans, however, and in the confusion, Van Genechten crossed the finish line first. Per Daniel Benson of Cycling News, he called it the biggest win of his career: "At the Vuelta, the chances of a victory are really small. You have to fight every stage, and I tried on Stage 1 and 2. This was one of my goals and tried to just stay with the bunch today. This is the biggest win, for sure."
Several riders were slow to get up from the crash, and, per CyclingHub, Contador suffered quite a bit of damage:
Saturday's ride will be nearly flat for the bulk of the distance covered, but the stage will finish on La Camperona, a steep climb with gradients up to nearly 20 per cent.
Expect the top riders to test their forms and several to lose ground in the overall classification―back in 2014, even the great Contador cracked. If the heat holds up, riders like Movistar's Nairo Quintana and Orica-BikeExchange's Esteban Chaves will surely test Froome.
More climbing will follow on Sunday and Monday.
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