La Vuelta 2022: Jesus Herrada wins thrilling stage in Cistierna as Remco Evenepoel retains red jersey

On a day the pendulum tantalisingly swung between the breakaway and the peloton, it was the five-man move which ultimately ended up on top with Spain’s Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) proving the strongest in a thrilling conclusion to Stage 7 in Cistierna. The only man in the breakaway with a previous Vuelta stage win to his name, Herrada used all his experience and guile to time his sprint to perfection, launching from the wheel of Britain’s Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and then holding off a late surge from Italy’s Samuele Battistella (Astana-Qazaqstan).

Ad Belgium’s Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Australia’s Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal) completed the top five, but the day belonged to 32-year-old Herrada, who broke down in tears after his 18th – and perhaps most unlikely – pro win of his career. Vuelta a España‘It was a perfect scenario’ – Evenepoel on ‘relaxing’ dayAN HOUR AGO The peloton was led home 29 seconds in arrears by Ireland’s Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), who made up for missing out on the chance to complete a hat-trick of wins by extending his lead in the green jersey points classification.

Bennett beat Britain’s Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ), Australia’s Kaden Groves (BikeExchange-Jayco), Denmark’s Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Britain’s Dan McLay (Arkea-Samsic) as the sprinters locked horns after a frustrating day for the fast men in Cantabria. Pedersen’s Trek-Segafredo team had set a hefty tempo on the day’s only categorised climb to reduce the lead of the escapees and drop a raft of sprinters – including Bennett, McLay and Germany’s Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates).