Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
An emotional Andreas Leknessund has broken down in tears after claiming stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana, the victory carrying deep significance just hours after the death of Norway’s King Harald V.
Leknessund and teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen delivered a historic one-two finish for their Norwegian squad, Uno-X Mobility on Friday.
“It is a special day for Norway due to the passing of our king, who took a great interest in sports, and this victory is the best possible tribute,” Leknessund said.
Leknessund launched a successful solo attack on the final climb to the summit finish of Aramon Valdelinares as Norway was still in mourning for the death of the 89-year-old monarch.
He made his move from a five-rider breakaway, 7.5 km from the finish at the end of the 149.8km ride from Vall d’Alba, and pulled away to win his first Grand Tour stage on his Vuelta debut.
“Obviously it’s only a small thing in the bigger picture but still, it makes the day more special,” he said.
“I didn’t expect it to be this emotional, but for sure there’s so much feelings around this. I’ve been fighting really hard, and it means a lot.”
Johannessen came in 34 seconds behind, having left Belgian Wout van Aert in his wake close to the finish, with the Visma-Lease a Bike rider having to settle for third after he had made the initial attack from the off and spent most of the day out in front with Leknessund.
Tadej Pogacar, winner of three stages already, was happy to sit back in the peloton before pulling away from his GC rivals approaching the summit to gain more seconds.
The Slovenian now leads Spaniard Enric Mas by three minutes 50 seconds.
Van Aert and Leknessund got away early and were joined by another three riders, Johannessen, Eddie Dunbar and Alexey Lutsenko coming to the top of the first of five climbs.
The leaders worked together, building a substantial gap and at the foot of the final climb the five were one-minute ahead of a chasing group of 13 riders with the peloton out of the running with less than 10 km to the finish.
Leknessund was the first to try to get away, and when nobody followed he was able to finally claim his stage win having finished runner-up three times at this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Felix Gall, fifth overall, tried to get away from Pogacar, but the Slovenian responded and in the end gained 16 seconds on his closest rival Mas, with compatriot Primoz Roglic a further minute behind in third.
