On the day Norway’s King Harald V died, the Norwegian team Uno-X Mobility claimed an emotional 1-2 on stage seven of the Vuelta a España.
Andreas Leknessund attacked solo six kilometres from the finish at the Valdelinares ski station, winning his first ever Grand Tour stage by 34 seconds from his compatriot and colleague Tobias Halland Johannessen.
“I had goosebumps when our DS (sports director) said we do it for the King today, and I think we made him proud,” Johannessen said afterwards, wearing a black armband, like his seven teammates. “I’m also proud of us as a team. To do it like this was a dream.”
In spite of the 3,500m of elevation gain during the stage and uphill finish to an elevation of just under 2,000m, Wout van Aert finished third. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider also won the intermediate sprint and moves into the lead in the points classification.
Tadej Pogačar attacked in the closing kilometres from the group of general classification favourites, adding 16 seconds to his lead at the top of the standings. The world champion now has an advantage of 3:50 to Enric Mas in second, with Primož Roglič one minute further back.
Felix Gall took 10 seconds out of Mas, and 23 on Roglič, Sepp Kuss and Oscar Onley, to jump up to fourth overall. He is now 11 seconds adrift of Roglič in third.
Analysis
The passing of Europe’s oldest reigning monarch at the age of 89 was marked with a minute silence at the start of the day in the Vall d’Alba, with Uno-X’s eight riders, plus Netcompany-INEOS’s Norwegian rider Embret-Svestad-Bårdseng, standing on the front row with their helmets removed.
There was no better way to pay homage to the King than by dominating the stage as Uno-X did.
Leknessund attacked from the flag on today’s stage and was rewarded with his first Grand Toru stage win (JOSE JORDAN / AFP via Getty Images)
“Just as we woke up today we had the news,” Leknessund said. “On the bus this morning we were even more motivated to go out and give it a proper fight to make it a day to remember.
“We can say a win in the Vuelta is not much in the bigger picture, but I know the King was really interested in sport, and I think it’s the best way (to show their respect).”
Victory, the team’s first at the Vuelta, continues their best-ever season, in which they’ve now won a stage in each of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta, as well as leading the Tour for two days through Torstein Træen.
Created in 2017, Uno-X team is a privately-funded national project, with only riders from Norway and Denmark permitted to compete for them. After several years impressing as a second-tier outfit, they were promoted to the WorldTour this season for the first time,
“It’s really incredible how the team is performing,” Leknessund said. “We go to every race with big ambitions.”
For Leknessund personally, he rates the win as more important than the five days he spent in the lead of the 2023 Giro d’Italia. “The maglia rosa was a really great memory, but to get this stage win feels like the one thing that was missing in my career,” he said.
“It was the big goal for the Vuelta and I’ve been close many times. This year I was second three times at the Giro, so to finally be able to get the big win really means a lot. I’ve been fighting and really working hard for this so it’s really, really big.”
Stage seven top 10
- Andreas Leknessund | Uno-X Mobility (3:49:47)
- Tobias Halland Johannessen | Uno-X Mobility (+34s)
- Wout van Aert | Visma-Lease a Bike (+47s)
- Jakob Omrzel | Bahrain – Victorious (+58s)
- Juan Felipe Rodriguez | EF Education-Easypost (+1m 13s)
- Iván Ramiro Sosa | Equipo Kern Pharma (+1m 16s)
- Alexey Lutsenko | NSN Cycling Team (+1m 44s)
- Eddie Dunbar | Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling (+1m 51s)
- Léo Bisiaux | Decathlon CMA CGM (+1m 53s)
- Raúl García Pierna | Movistar (+2m 14s)
General classification after stage seven
- Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates XRG (19:32:37)
- Enric Mas | Movistar (+3m 50s)
- Primož Roglič | Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe (+4m 50s)
- Felix Gall | Decathlon CMA CGM (+5m 1s)
- Sepp Kuss | Visma-Lease a Bike (+6m 5s)
- Oscar Onley | Netcompany INEOS (+6m 6s)
- Richard Carapaz | EF Education-Easypost (+6m 12s)
- Mattias Skjelmose | Lild Trek (+7m 17s)
- Harold Tejada | XDS Astana (+7m 46s)
- Gregor Mühlberger | Decathlon CMA CGM (+9m 29s)
Tadej Pogačar eased clear of his GC rivals on the final climb to extend his advantage in the red jerey (JOSE JORDAN / AFP via Getty Images)
