Stage 7

The road

At the start

Six climbs to the Balcón de Alicante

The bonus seconds at Cullera put Roglič back in red, 25 seconds up on Enric Mas, 36 on Miguel Ángel López, 41 on Bernal. Today is the first true mountain day: six categorised climbs inside 152 kilometres of the Alicante hinterland that half this peloton knows from winter training camps, bonus seconds waiting on the Puerto de Tibi, and a first-category haul up to the Balcón de Alicante to finish.

How it was won

1. 172 km to go

   The race explodes early

   Six categorised climbs, and the first of them detonates the stage inside fifteen kilometres. Over the Tudons the break is already shedding riders and the peloton is 3:30 down.

2. 239 km to go

   Valverde's Vuelta ends in tears

   Storer goes solo out front while behind, Movistar light the fuse — Rojas, then Valverde himself, drawing out Carapaz and Yates and stripping Roglič down to one teammate. Then, on a flatter right-hander, the 41-year-old slides out onto the gravel and over the lip of the hillside. He climbs back up, is pushed by teammates, and finally stops and breaks down.

3. 314 km to go

   Sivakov and Storer, at odds

   The pair squander most of a 55-second lead looking at each other. Sivakov attacks and drops his chain; Storer rides away from Craddock; Sivakov comes back with plenty to say about it.

4. 47 km to go

   Four on the Balcón

   The climb dips downhill after two kilometres and Verona uses it to attack, then Kron joins him and the pair bridge across, making four at the front seven kilometres from the summit.

5. 54 km to go

   Storer rides away

   With four kilometres left, where the road narrows and steepens, the 24-year-old goes past Verona's attack, past Sivakov, and simply keeps accelerating. Nobody in the break has an answer, and behind him the favourites are too busy watching each other to care.

6. 6At the line

   Balcón de Alicante

   Storer wins alone. Behind, Landa is in trouble and drops back with Ciccone and Carapaz, while Yates breezes up the steep slopes with Roglič planted immovably on his wheel.

The result