Portugal Colonial - Ayuso triumphs in Vuelta stage seven, Traen keeps red jersey

Torstein Traen of Bahrain Victorious held on to the leader's red jersey, finishing in a group along with general classification favourites Jonas Vingegaard and Joao Almeida.

Team UAE's Ayuso, who fell out of the running for the overall race on Thursday but later said he had not planned to compete for it anyway, made an early attack.

Ayuso, perhaps upset at not being chosen as his team's leader for the race behind Almeida, flexed his muscles on the mountainous 188-kilometre run from Andorra La Vella to Spanish village Cerler, one of the race's toughest stages.

He formed part of the day's break that contained stage six winner Jay Vine and Mads Pedersen among others, with 140 kilometres remaining.

The break stayed clear with Bahrain Victorious and Traen happy to let them stay up the road.

Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard, favourite to win the race, and his likely closest rival Almeida were content to hang back in the peloton.

Ayuso attacked with 11 kilometres remaining and although Marco Frigo bridged the gap, the Spaniard dumped the Israel Premier Tech rider with a second burst.

The 22-year-old crossed the finish line with his fingers in his ears. Frigo came in second, one minute 15 seconds behind Ayuso, while Arkea's Raul Garcia Pierna secured third.

Almeida made a bid to gain some time but Vingegaard, Traen, Sepp Kuss and others caught up with relative ease.

Riders will get some relief on Saturday as a relatively flat stage eight stretches 163.5 kilometres from Monzon Templario to Zaragoza.

F.Cardoso--PC