Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) went alone on the climb to the finish to win stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday, showing a remarkable recovery from his collapse in the Pyrenees the previous day, while Torstein Traeen retains the red jersey.
Ayuso, tipped to be one of the main challengers to pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard, had slipped way down the general classification after getting dropped on the final climb on Thursday, but was back to his best on the 188km ride from Andorra la Vella to Cerler.
Italian Marco Frigo (Israel Premier Tech) crossed the line more than one minute behind Ayuso in second, with another Spaniard, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels), finishing third. Norwegian Traeen (Bahrain Victorious) holds a two minutes and 33 seconds lead over Vingegaard.
Ayuso was the first to get away early in the stage, before he was joined by a group of 11 riders, including Australian team-mate and stage six winner Jay Vine, and with 11 kilometres left to the finish, the Spaniard made his move again.
Ireland's Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) finished 42nd on the stage, eight minutes and 40 seconds behind Ayuso and Archie Ryan (EF Education - EasyPost) was 111th.
Ryan is 44th in the general classification, 20 minutes down on current race leader Traeen, with Dunbar 85th.
