Bert-Jan Linderman of LottoNL-Jumbo has won Stage 7 of the 2015 Vuelta at La Alpujarra on an afternoon when Tour de France champion Chris Froome of Team Sky lost time to his rivals.

Linderman, aged 26, was one of five riders who got away early on in the 191.1km stage from Lindar as he took the biggest win of his career.

He got away from his fellow escapees on the day's final climb, finishing 29 seconds ahead of Lampre-Merida's Ilia Koshevoy.

In the closing 2 kilometres, Astana's Fabio Aru – who unlike most of the fancied contenders for the overall did not ride the Tour de France – atacked from the group containing the main challengers for the General Classification, and finished third.

While the Sardinian's move only gained him a handful of seconds over most of his main rivals, it did put two-time Vuelta runner-up Froome in trouble and the Team Sky rider lost more than half a minute, dropping to 12th overall,