20-year-old Slovenian delivers strong ride on summit finish after spending much of the stage in the attacking group

Jakob Omrzel produced an impressive performance on Stage 7 of La Vuelta a España, finishing fourth at the summit of Aramón Valdelinares after spending much of the day in a large chasing group.

The 20-year-old Slovenian, the youngest rider in this year’s edition and competing in his first Grand Tour, was joined by teammate Pello Bilbao in the chasing group after five riders established themselves at the front of the race.

Bilbao worked to support Omrzel as the group attempted to close the gap to the leaders, but the five escapees maintained their advantage as the race approached the final climb.

Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility launched an attack on the 9.8-kilometre ascent to Aramón Valdelinares and went on to claim the stage victory. His teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen finished second, while Wout van Aert of Team Visma–Lease a Bike took third.

Omrzel delivered a strong final climb to finish fourth, crossing the line 58 seconds behind Leknessund.

Sports Director Franco Pellizzotti praised the team’s performance and Omrzel’s effort.

“Finally, in my opinion, we did a really great race. We put Jakob in the breakaway, which was in the plan. It was a big breakaway with the aim of gaining time in GC and trying to win the stage. Pello was there to help him,” Pellizzotti said.

“The only problem was that there were five riders in front, and the group with our riders never really worked all together at full gas, with everyone riding smart, so we never closed the gap to those five riders. In the end, Jakob did an amazing climb, but it was difficult to close the gap. He did an amazing job and we are happy with this result. I’m super happy because the riders raced very well today.”

Omrzel said the race was difficult from the start, with riders fighting to secure a place in the breakaway.

“From the start, the race was really hard again, just like yesterday, with everyone trying to get into the breakaway. We had the same idea. Pello did a great job to get into the break, and on the next climb I thought that if the pace was hard enough, maybe I could make it across. That’s exactly what happened,” Omrzel said.