Vuelta a España stage 7: Michael Woods wins from the remains of fractured break

Riding away from the front of a sizable breakaway group, Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) took the win on stage 7 of the 2020 Vuelta a España.

Recovering from a crash on stage 1, Woods rode a tactically smart stage, chasing down attacks when he needed to, and otherwise conserving his legs for the final push to the line.

“It was a special day and amazing to be racing in the Basque Country,” said Woods. “I got away with those four guys, they were riding super strong, and I felt bad that I couldn’t pull through. With Valverde in the group, I just couldn’t pull through because we had Hugh Carthy in the peloton and I just couldn’t give him any more time in the general classification.”

After a selection on the first of two categorized climbs, a 36-man break was formed when 14 men were joined by 18 more who rode off the front of the peloton.

From this break Woods, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), Omar Fraile (Astana), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale) escaped on the final climb.

Woods did little work in the final 10km, and in the final 5km, the Canadian set himself into a position to make his winning attack at 1.2km to go.

Ineos Grenadiers — led by Chris Froome and Cameron Wurf — did most of the work to keep Richard Carapaz in the leader’s jersey.

How stage 7 unfolded

Just outside of 100 kilometers to go a 16-man break which included Woods, Sepp Kuss and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma), and Martin had 1:46 advantage on the peloton containing race-leader Carapaz.

Peters lead the break, while Kuss and Bennett lead the chase group, with Martin, as they went through the summit and feed zone to get nutrition and warm clothes for the descent.

Kuss went on the attack, to try to snatch up KOM points, and this move brought the group in the middle up to the group in front.

The chase was caught forming a group of 36 at the top of the first of two climbs.

The best-placed rider in this break was Valverde, just three minutes down on Carapaz.

With the gap to the peloton over 2:30, Ineos Grenadiers ramped up the pursuit.

Valverde attacked the sizable break with 37km to go, taking Dorian Godon (AG2R – La Mondiale) and Stan Dewulf (Lotto-Soudal) with him.

Bennet and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) in KOM jersey, along with Magnus Cort Neilsen (EF Pro Cycling) countered, but this group was brought back after 5km.

Godon attacked on the descent of this climb and was able to stay clear for most of the flat road leading to the final climb, getting as much as 20 seconds on Valverde and Dewulf.

As the front of the race came into the base of the final climb for the stage, the two Jumbo-Visma riders animated the bunch in the front of the race.

Godon, facing an uphill headwind was brought back by his pursuers midway into the final climb when Kuss went on the attack, shadowed by Woods, and Valverde.

The attacks were now being launched at a furious pace, with Woods having a dig over the crest of the climb.

The EF Pro Cycling rider managed to get 10 seconds on the descent, but this gap was limited by Valverde.

Valverde, Martin, Peters, and Fraile bring back Woods at 17km to go.

With Martin’s persistence and aggression on this climb, he took the maximum KOM points on offer, and will now wear the KOM leader’s jersey.

These five escapees managed to force a 23-second separation to the pursuing group with just 12km remaining of racing.

The break of five started to attack one another, on the flat, straight stretch to the finish, and stared to lose time to their pursuers.

At the urging of the veteran Valverde, the break organized enough to hold the pursuers by 20 seconds through 5km to go, despite several doomed attacks by Martin and Peters.

The former world champion wearing Movistar colors was seen having a chat with Woods who was coasting on the back for most of the stretch from 10km to 5km to go.

Frustrated with the cat-and-mouse in the small bunch, Valverde went on the attack, but this was quickly neutralized, at which point Peters countered, but this too did not stick.

With 3km to go, it was Fraile who attacked, and Woods was quick to go with him, while Valverde reacted to try to bring them back.

Patiently watching and waiting from the back of the group while recovering from chasing down attacks, Woods launched an attack just outside of 1.2km to go, quickly opening a gap.

Woods rode away from his chasers for the stage win, with the peloton back by just under a minute.

Reflecting on how he rode to the stage win, Woods added, “I was able to sit in a little bit. Then I had a bit of luck, I had the legs, and I got the win.”

The 34-year-old Canadian will move to Israel Start-Up Nation in 2021.