Woods wins Vuelta stage seven as Carapaz keeps overall lead

Canadian Michael Woods timed his move to perfection to win the seventh stage at la Vuelta, as Richard Carapaz retained the overall lead

Having completed the first rest day, the riders set off on a demanding 160 km route from Vitoria Gasteiz to Villanueva de Valdegovia. The Puerto de Orduna (1st cat.) had to be conquered twice, with the second cresting of the ascent coming less than 20 km from the finish.

After a series of unsuccessful attempts, a 34-man breakaway group,  managed to escape from the peloton. The field, led by Ineos Grenadiers, remained attentive to the gap, which consequently didn't exceed 3 minutes during the stage. With 60 km remaining, Jay McCarthy unfortunately crashed out of the race and was taken to hospital for further examinations.

In the decisive phase of the race there were several attacks trying to break away from the leading group. In the end, five riders; Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale), Omar Fraile (Astana Pro Team) managed to establish a small gap, while behind them a thinned-out chasing group including was hot on their heels in pursuit.

Over the final 10 km, the leaders were left to fight out the win amongst themselves, with a last-minute attack by M. Woods giving him the stage honours. 

The racing continues tomorrow with a real mountain finish at Alto de Moncalvillo. The 164km stage starts in Logroño, the capital of the Rioja wine region. The climb to the 1,490m high finish is 8.3km long at 9.2%.  

VIDEO: 2020 La Vuelta Stage 7 Highlights

2020 La Vuelta Stage 7 Top 10

1 Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling 03:48:16
2 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana Pro Team 00:00:04
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 00:00:04
4 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 00:00:08
5 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 00:00:08
6 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:13
7 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana Pro Team 00:00:13
8 Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:00:13
9 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 00:00:13
10 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:13

2020 La Vuelta GC after Stage 7

1 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 28:23:51
2 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:18
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:20
4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:30
5 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:07
6 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:30
7 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:42
8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:02
9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:03
10 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:39