La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2024 Stage 7

August 23, 2024 The 180KM race to Córdoba, the hottest city in Europe, could be one for the sprinters but they will have to get over the Alto del 14% that summits at 25KM before the finish. Another scorching day in Andalucía stymied the activity and only Xabier Isasa of Euskaltel-Euskadi was interested in going up the road. He had almost 8 minutes with 120KM to go but given the heat, his time out front could be reduced whenever the peloton wanted. With 42KM to go, Isasa entered Córdoba with a lead of 1 minute 20 seconds before heading North to tackle the Alto del 14%. Isasa wouldn't make it to the climb out front however as he was swept up with the increased speed through the Intermediate Sprint. Edoardo Affini of Visma-Lease a Bike set a strong pace early with Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe taking over. They ran out of riders with 2KM to the top, leaving Primož Roglič isolated and forced to keep the pace. Roglič took the bonus seconds on top of the climb but all of the GC riders went over the top together in a group of around 30. The road continued to roll before the true descent making it hard to control. Marc Soler of UAE attacked but Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease Bike did the job to reel Soler back in with 3.5KM to go. Pavel Sivakov of UAE was next to go but he was close enough on GC for Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe to do the work. Sivakov was only caught when the sprint opened up at 200M. Wout Van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike was first to go, passing Sivakov and hitting the line first for his second stage win. Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek was in next for second with Pau Miquel of Equipo Kern Pharma in third.