Jonas Vingegaard didn't encounter any problems during the mountain stage on day seven of the Vuelta. The Danish team leader of Visma | Lease a Bike was able to seemingly easily follow an acceleration from João Almeida but decided not to make any further moves himself. Afterwards, the two-time Tour winner explained to Eurosport why he chose a passive race strategy.
"It was a solid day. It wasn’t easy and we still wanted to conserve some energy. The final climb was tough, but the team did a great job," Vingegaard said immediately after the finish. The top favorite for the overall victory was asked why he didn't let his team ride for a possible stage win themselves.
"If we wanted, we could definitely have fought for the win, but we want to somewhat preserve the team," he referred back to his earlier answer. "We need the energy for the second and third weeks, which are tough enough. So we decided not to go for the stage win today."
Saturday will be an apparent rest day for the GC contenders. Heading to Zaragoza, the 165-kilometer route has very little elevation gain. On Sunday, a new uphill finish awaits. The peloton will head to the Estación de Esquí de Valdezcaray, a climb 13.3 kilometers long at an average of 5.2 percent.
