Norway’s Andreas Leknessund secured an emotional first Grand Tour stage win as he led home a Norwegian one-two on stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana.

The 27-year-old was part of the break from the start of the stage and after 137 kilometres he left behind his remaining companions on the last climb to ride the final seven kilometres solo, winning by 34 seconds from fellow Norwegian and Uno-X Mobility team-mate Tobias Halland Johannessen, with Wout van Aert finishing third.

“It really hurt today,” said Lenessund. “I didn’t expect it to be this emotional.”

A Norwegian one-two was fitting given Norway’s King Harald V died on Friday, with both riders sporting black armbands in his memory.

World champion Tadej Pogacar, who is looking to complete a full set of Grand Tour victories, finished 19th – four minutes and 23 seconds behind the winner – but extended his lead in the general classification by a further 16 seconds after pulling clear of his main rivals with a few kilometres to go.

Britain’s Oscar Onley lost further time to the red jersey but climbed to sixth in GC and took a firm grip on the young rider’s classification, now leading the battle for the white jersey by nearly four minutes.