Van Aert wins Vuelta stage seven, O'Connor stays in red

Belgian Wout van Aert sprinted to win stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday, his second victory of this year's race, with Australia's Ben O'Connor retaining the overall lead.

Czech rider Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) came in second ahead of Spain's Pau Miquel Delgado ((Kern Pharma) in third, with the red jersey of O'Connor losing no time as he finished safely in the leading bunch.

The 180.5km ride from Archidona to Cordoba included one categorised climb, Alto del 14 per cent, late in the stage, but with 26 kilometres to the finish, and a flat run into Cordoba after the descent, a bunch sprint was the expected outcome.

O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), who took the red jersey after winning stage six, has a four minute 45 seconds lead over three-times former champion Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).