Tony Gallopin solos away to win stage 7 as Kwiatkowski crashes

Tony Gallopin attacked from a reduced peloton to win the stage with 3 kms to go, behind Peter Sagan won the sprint ahead of Valverde. Kwiatkowski lost 20 seconds after crashing on the final descent.

Today's stage saw a breakaway of seven riders go clear including; Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Michael Woods (Education First-Drapac), Floris De Tier (LottoNL-Jumbo), Nicola Conci (Trek-Segafredo), Edward Ravasi (UAE Team Emirates), Alex Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Oscar Rodriguez (Euskadi-Murias).

Behind the peloton eventually picked up speed with 40 kms to go. There were the enevitable crashes Tiesj Benoot ran out of road as rider's massed at the front of the bunch.

Up in front, sensing the catch Michael Woods (Education First-Drapac) andFloris De Tier (LottoNL-Jumbo). attacked their breakaway companions and Woods went clear on his own but the peloton kept increasing pas and Woods and the rest of the breakaway were caught with 12 kms to go.

The final descent was a very tricky one, sharp bends, narrow and dusty, Luis Mas decided it was worth an long range attack and went off down the descent. 

Team Sky's domestique's over cooked a bend and three of them went down including favorite Michal Kwiatkowski.

On the falt before the final drag up to the line, Kwiatkowski was over 3o secs behind the reduced peloton and was seen time trialling in a small group including Izzaguirre, trying to get back into the reduced peloton.

Up front, six rider went clear but the main peloton closed it down, Herrada was the next to attack with 4 kms to go but was caught. 

With 3kms to go Tony Gallopin looked around at the reduced peloton and attacked and instantly got a 7 secs lead.

Behind the was no real organized chase and Gallopin's gap went up. With 1 km to go Gallopin sensed he could solo to the line and sprinted to take the stage win.

Behind a small group of what was left of the main peloton sprinted across the line, with Sagan second and Valverde 3rd, inths group were favorites Kelderman, Izzaguire, Uran and Fraile.

Michal Kwiatkowski crossed the line 20 secs down and as a result dropped to 9th overall.

Rudy Mollard finished safely in the mian bunch and retained the race lead.

Gallopin moved up to 5th overall and the top 10 contains several of the favorite including Valverde, Yates, Kwiatkowski, Izaguirre, Quintana and Kruijswijk.

Saturday's stage is fairly falt and one of the longest that is likely to end up in a sprint finish. The race really heats up on Sunday with the first big mountain top finish up La Covatilla, a stage not to be missed.

VIDEO: GCN Stage 7 Highlights

 

2018 La Vuelta Stage 7 Top 10

1 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 4:18:20 
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:05 
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team   
4 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias   
5 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team   
6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale   
7 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida   
8 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors   
9 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:07 
10 Sepp Kuss (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo  

2018 La Vuelta GC after Stage 7

1 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 26:44:40 
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:47 
3 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:48 
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:51 
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:59 
6 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:06 
7 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:11 
8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:14 
9 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:18 
10 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:23

Tony Gallopin solos away to win stage 7 as Kwiatkowski crashes

 
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