On the Giro d'Italia's first summit finish at Blockhaus, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) cemented his status as the overwhelming favourite to win the race, soloing home to take the stage victory.
The Dane made the first big attack on the Apennine ascent, 5.5km from the top of the 13.6km climb, taking home favourite Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with him. But a kilometre later, he was gone, accelerating away from the Italian and every other GC hopeful.
Thirteen minutes later, Vingegaard raised his arms atop Blockhaus, following in the wheel tracks of riders including Eddy Merckx, José Manuel Fuente, Moreno Argentin, and Nairo Quintana in doing so.
"Today we just wanted to go for the win, and I'm extremely happy that I could finish it off. My teammates did an amazing job today, and I'm happy that I could really pay it off," Vingegaard said after his win.
"We kept it a bit more open to see when the moment was there. There was a lot of wind, and at moments, a lot of headwind, so it was a very tough climb.
"I'm definitely happy that I could take back some time. It was a good day for me, a good day for us, and just to take back time and take some time on my opponents, that's a good day for us.
"For sure, Felix Gall is a big rival to me. I knew it already before the race. He's a very strong guy who we really have to take into account."
Despite Vingegaard's record-setting ascent of the climb – his time ranks almost two minutes faster than the previous best – the GC gaps weren't massive at the top.
Most major names finished within three minutes of the winner. However, the likes of Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) and Enric Mas (Movistar) were major losers on the day, finishing 2:55 and 5:47 down, respectively.
There was more positive news for race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), however. The 24-year-old put in a gutsy ride to hang on to the maglia rosa after dropping from the select lead group 5.7km from the top of the climb.
He finished in 15th place at the top, shedding 2:55 to Vingegaard, and so he continues in pink with a 3:17 lead. Vingegaard lies in second overall at 3:17, while Gall jumps into third overall at 3:34.
How it unfolded
At the end of the first week of racing, the Giro d'Italia headed to its toughest day so far, delving into the Apennines for an eighth visit to Blockhaus. The Lazio coastal city of Formia hosted the start before the race moved north through Marche and into Abruzzo, the sixth Italian region visited by this year's Giro.
The longest day of the Giro at 244km, stage 7 saw the riders tackle 4,500 metres of climbing, much of it packed into the second half of the stage. The first difficulty came after 148km at the unclassified Svincolo di Rionero Sannitico (9.5km at 5%).
The second-category ascent of Roccaraso (6.9km at 6.5%), often a stage post en route to other major climbs in the area, followed, playing a similar role as it has in the past.
From there, 76km away from the finish, there were rises and descents, but no further classified climbs before the final. The first-category ascent of Blockhaus measured in at 13.6km at an average of 8.4%, with the Red Bull Kilometre and its bonus seconds featuring 10.5km from the top.
Perhaps surprisingly for a mountain stage, there wasn't a big battle for the break at the start of the day. However, with a full 170km ahead of the riders before Roccaraso, the reticence to commit was understandable.
Star sprinter Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was the first man to make a move, the Italian breaking away with an obvious eye on the day's intermediate sprint at Venafro after 113km of racing.
The Italian was soon joined in the move by four more riders – maglia azzurra Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-VisitMalta), Jardi Christian van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5), and Tim Naberman (Picnic-PostNL). The quintet raced away to a maximum advantage of 5:30 as Visma-Lease a Bike and Bahrain Victorious settled into work at the front of the peloton.
With a largely flat opening to the stage, there was little of note to report before the riders reached Venafro. There, Milan led the way to take 12 points towards the maglia ciclamino, while his breakmates snapped up the remainder of the points.
The result didn't change the points classification standings, though it did mean that Milan closed in a little on leader Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), with 76 points to the Frenchman's 130.
Milan wouldn't last too much longer out front, losing contact with the break on the Rionero Sannitico and dropping back to the peloton. The surviving quartet continued five minutes ahead of the peloton, heading on to Roccaraso, 78km from the finish.
Unsurprisingly, Sevilla positioned himself at the head of the break before jumping clear in the final metres of the ascent to lead over the top. The Spaniard collected 18 points as a result, taking his mountain classification total to 60 points, 42 clear of second-placed Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Behind the breakaway, Visma and Bahrain continued to lead the way, with showers falling on the riders as they raced into the final 50km. Still in control of affairs on the 20km descent of the Passo San Leonardo, the peloton closed to within three minutes of the break on the way down.
The battle on Blockhaus
That gap hit four minutes again on the flat run to the start of Blockhaus, while out in the break, the attacks started early, with Naberman unable to keep up with the pace. More moves came at the very start of the climb, where Zukowsky took off, taking Van der Lee with him as Sevilla dropped.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Netcompany Ineos moved up front in the early kilometres of the climb. Two minutes up the mountain, the surviving trio snapped up the bonus seconds at the Red Bull Kilometre.
With Red Bull taking sole responsibility for leading the peloton, the group whittled down quickly. Igor Arrieta, lying second overall following his win in Potenza, was one of the first notable names to drop, losing contact with the bunch 9.2km from the finish.
Visma-Lease a Bike took over from Red Bull 8.5km out as the group closed to within a minute of the breakaway duo. Meanwhile, Bernal and Mas suffered as they dropped at the rear of the group.
Davide Piganzoli and Sepp Kuss put the pressure on at the front with Jonas Vingegaard in the wheel as the strong winds blew across the exposed mountainside. The break's adventure came to an end 6.5km from the top, while the Italian's job was done 100 metres later, leaving Kuss in charge of a 13-rider group.
All the big hitters – minus Bernal, Mas, Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) – were there, but maglia rosa Eulálio let go with 5.7km to go. 200 metres later, the battle to become his successor in pink began as Vingegaard landed the first blow of the Giro's GC battle.
Only Pellizzari and Gall could keep up with the Dane's initial acceleration, but the Austrian soon went backwards as Italy's great hope stuck with the overall favourite. The pair were chased by a select GC group, including Hindley, O'Connor, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos), and Tudor pairing Michael Storer and Mathys Rondel, with Gall in between.
Vingegaard put in another move 4.5km from the top, this time leaving Pellizzari behind for good. In following the Dane, the Italian seemed to have bitten off more than he could chew. He had hit his limits and soon dropped back behind Gall. Further down the mountain, Australian duo Hindley and O'Connor formed the next group on the road, a minute behind the solo leader.
Heading into the forested final 2km of the climb, which offered welcome respite from the wind, the pair caught Pellizzari, while the resurgent Gall impressively held the gap to Vingegaard at 20 seconds. Those gaps largely held on the final run to the line, where Vingegaard celebrated the 49th win of his career.
Gall finished strongly to lose just 13 seconds, positioning himself as Vingegaard's main rival in the weeks to come. Further back, the Red Bull leadership pairing lost more time along with O'Connor and the rest, though the GC battle remains open after the Giro's opening day in the mountains.
Results
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