Eddie Dunbar strong in Vuelta final, Wout van Aert wins again | Video

Wout van Aert wins Vuelta stage 7 into Córdoba, his second victory on the race as he gets a firmer grip on the points classification (Photo: Unipublic-Sprint Cycling Agency)

Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) has put in a very solid finish on stage 7 of La Vuelta, placing 14th in the final dash to the line after the field split to pieces during attacking over late lumpy terrain.

At the end of 180.5km of racing to Cordoba it was Wout van Aert who took his second stage win of the race after his Visma-Lease a Bike team - including last year's race winner Sepp Kuss - closed down late attackers.

With a climb of 14 per cent some 25.5km from the finish, the field exploded under the pressure of the general classification men and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe. The German team's leader, Primož Roglič, took the six second time bonus at the top of the climb from Kuss and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).

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Once that race for the bonuses was done, the attacks began, with Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) going for a solo move and gaining 20 seconds; Van Aert doing big turns to close him down.

However, when the gap was almost closed, that only served to provoke counter moves from riders like David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates).

Indeed, Sivakov lasted until the final few hundred metres, before being reabsorbed, leading to a sprint won by Van Aert from Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma).

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Dunbar's 14th place, after making the front group of just over 40 riders was a solid outing by the Irish rider, who can hopefully take a chance later in the race.

Darren Rafferty, Ireland's Grand Tour debutant riding for EF Education-EasyPost, was 121st today, at 11:27, as he continues to work for his team leader Carapaz and gains invaluable experience through the race.

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