As the Vuelta a España peloton led by Visma-Lease a Bike rounded the right-hand bend at the foot of the final climb to Cerler on stage seven, it looked as if the team led by heavy favourite Jonas Vingegaard was about to impose its traditional blistering pace on climbs, a prelude to an attack from the Danish champion.

Instead, after teammates Victor Campenaerts, Wilco Kelderman and Ben Turner maintained a steady pace over the first 11 kilometres of the climb, the Dutch team surprisingly opted for a more conservative approach.

The situation evolved to the point that UAE Team Emirates-XRG, realizing that Vingegaard and his teammates weren't pushing, took the lead with Marc Soler and João Almeida. A subsequent attack by Almeida was promptly responded by Vingegaard, but the Dane's reluctance to cooperate in distancing the group suggested he preferred to conserve his energy for the following stages, avoiding retaking the red jersey too early from Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious).

"We certainly could have fought for the win, but we also wanted to conserve energy," Vingegaard explained after the finish. "We're saving ourselves for the second and third weeks. It'll be tough enough there, so we decided not to push it today."

Despite no decisive action, Vingegaard still moved up from fifth to second in the overall standings, now 2:33 behind leader Træen, while all the other riders from Thursday's breakaway were dropped from the main group.

For the Visma-Lease a Bike team, the longer Træen and Bahrain maintain the lead, the better it will be for their long-term plans.