Giro d'Italia stage 7 – Live coverage

Buongiorno and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia. 

We're happy to back in action and able to bring you our usual detailed live coverage of the stage.

As we join the action, there are 50km to go of the 181km stage. 

We have an early break but everything is set for a fast finale and a technical sprint in Termoli.

This is today's stage map.

The riders have just returned to the Adriatic coast and are riding into a stiff head wind. 

And this is the stage finish map, with the curves and corners.

This is a summary of the racing so far: 

The stage started in the sun in Notaresco for the 181km ride down the Adriatic coast. Domenico Pozzovivo (Qhubeka Assos) was a non-starter after crashing in the rain on Thursday and injuring the arm that needed surgery last year.

Yet again the early break jumped away straight away and was allowed to go clear. Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF), Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli) and Britain’s Mark Christian (Eolo Kometa) decided to chance their hand and quickly opened a 2:00 gap. 

It went up to 5:00 before the sprinter’s teams combined to lead the chase. The route followed the Adriatic coast for 29km and then headed inland for some short climbs in the Abruzzo hills. 

Pellaud was the first up to Chieti, the only categorised climb of the stage. At the half-way point of the stage, after 90km, their lead was at 2:40. 

After 30km of rolling roads in the Abruzzo vineyards, the first intermediate sprint was in Crecchio. Marengo, Pellaud and Christian rolled through but behind there was more of a fight for fourth place. Qhubeka Assos lined out the peloton but then Bora-Hansgrohe’s Daniel Oss split the pack and led out Sagan, who took 5 points. 

The Giro d’Italia reached the 1000km point of this year’s, leaving 2471km to go. 

The break’s lead remained at around 2:00 with Thomas De Gendt riding on the front for Lotto Soudal and Caleb Ewan’s chances. 

The GC riders and their teams all sat on the wheels when the race returned to the coast, letting the sprint teams ride into the stiff headwind. 

This is the break of the day.

After yesterday's stage in the Marche hills and the cold rain, we have a new race leader in Hungary's Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ).

Gino Mäder won stage 6 after being part of the long break of the day, giving Bahrain Victorious some cheer after team leader Mikel Landa crashed out the day before. 

Click below to read our stage report. 

Giro d'Italia: Gino Mäder wins stage 6

The stage to the top of the 15km San Giacomo climb also shook up the GC amongst the overall contenders.

Click below to read the details on who gained time and who lost it.

Giro d'Italia: Which GC contenders lost time on stage 6

Our journalists Barry Ryan and Alasdair Fotheringham are following all the Giro d'Italia and were at the Sam Giacomo finish to witness first hand the riders after the stage. 

Alasdair suggested that Evenepoel "bounced back with a vengeance from his defeat on stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia as the Belgian proved more than capable of staying with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)."

Click below to read Alasdair's story and to read what Evenepoel said post-stage.  

Evenepoel bounces back on first full summit finish of Giro d'Italia

Back to today's stage ands there are 40km to race. The riders are near Vasto now and will soon enter the Molise region, the smallest of the Italian regions.

The peloton continues to keep the three-rider break under control.  

The head wind is still strong and the clouds are gathering.  Lets hope it does not rain for the finish.

35km to go

The speed is higher in the peloton but it is hard for De Gendt to punch through the wind on the front.

The peloton seems to want to take control for the final 25km. They are closing down the break of the day. 

The gap is just 30 seconds.

The sprinters and their teams are worried about the final 2km. 

It includes five corners and a 200m kick-up section into the town centre. 

A good lead out, positioning and bike skills will be vital. The finish has Peter Sagan;'s name written all over it. 

The 200m, 12% kick-up is at 1.5km to go but there are several sections that narrow from 5km to go when the race leaves the main road.

Fasten your seatbelts!

20km to go

The GC teams such as EF are also up front in the peloton to protect their team leaders. Hugh Carthy is riding well for EF. 

The trio leas by just 15 seconds.

Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF), Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli) and Britain’s Mark Christian (Eolo Kometa) were brave to go on the attack, surely knowing the sprinters' teams would always chase them down.

Here are the day's heros.

Gruppo compatto! 

15km to go!

The speed is up to 50km/h now, with the teams lined out in formation but packing the whole road.

Trek-Segafredo are hoping it will be Matteo Moschetti's day. The technical finish suits the fast Italian.

From the Cyclingnews blimp we can see nine teams lined out, filling the road. 

However there will soon be a squeeze when they leave the main road.

Inoes are lined up on the left of the road, protecting Egan Bernal.

Lotto Soudal are on the right. 

Here come Jumbo-Visma for Groenewegen.

7km to go. 

Qhubeka are up with Ineos for Nizzolo. 

Alessandro De Marchi is chasing after a flat. 

Sagan has three riders ahead of him. 

Nizzolo is marking Ewan's wheel further back in the pack. 

5km to go! 

Groupama are trying to protect Attila and his pink jersey until the 3km to mark. 

Here we go! 

The riders leave the main road and squeeze into a narrower road. 

3km

Jumbo lead. 

At 2km to go, they turn right into town. 

Ewan has moved up to near the front. 

Nizzolo too. 

Cofidis leading for Viviani.

Onto the climb! 

Ewan in second place on the climb. 

Last km and in the curves! 

Flat for Carthy! 

Oss leads it out. 

Gaviria goes long! 

Ewan closes him down.

Ewan surges past and wins by a mile!

Sagan almost crashed in the final 300 metres as the other sprinters struggled to hold onto Ewan.  

Ewan beat Cimolai and Merlier.

This is the top ten:

1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 4:42:12
2 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-up Nation
3 Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
4 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
5 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
6 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates
7 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
8 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM
9 Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane'
10 Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates

That was superb speed and execution by Ewan. He had the confidence to close down Gaviria's early attack and the speed to catch him and then finish it off.

General classification after stage 7: 

1 Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ 26:59:18
2 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:0:11
3 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:0:16
4 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:0:24
5 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:0:25
6 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:0:39
7 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:0:41
8 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-up Nation 0:0:47
9 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:0:49
10 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:0:55

Here's Ewan earlier in the stage, riding relaxed before his big moment in Termoli. 

Here's the first shot of Ewan winning in Termoli. 

Ewan pointed to his Lotto Soudal jersey , praising his teammates work in the lead out.

Hugh Carthy suffered a mechanical problem in the final kilometres and finished off the back. However he should be awarded the same time due to his problems and so stay sixth overall at 38 seconds.   

Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) stays in pink for another stage.

It seems Carthy's problem was a broken saddle. 

Ewan didn't have any problems at the sharp end of the sprint. His win also gave him the lead in the cyclamen points jersey.

This is the correct top ten for GC, with Carthy showing as sixth. 

1 Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ 26:59:18
2 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:0:11
3 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:0:16
4 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:0:24
5 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:0:25
6 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 0:0:38
7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:0:39
8 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:0:41
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-up Nation 0:0:47
10 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:0:49

To read our full stage report and see the full results and growing photo gallery, click below. 

Giro d'Italia: Caleb Ewan wins another on stage 7

Ewqan put his second victory in this year's Giro down to being "smart and a lot of teamwork." 

"I had all my guys there from a long way out because there were a few points in the last 10km we really needed to be in the front so we don't have to brake and we got a really good ride. They did a really good job," he  explained.

"The most important point for me was the start of the climb because if I got a free run through there and a good run up the climb then I save a lot of energy. If I had to come from far back it would have cost me a lot for my sprint. It was a super hard finish anyway. My legs were absolutely burning in the end because I was sprinting from 450m to go - it was a slight uphill - it was a tough one.

He also explained how he carefully paced his late pursuit of Gaviria.

"Gaviria - if it was anyone else we would have waited a little bit but when he goes, he has the strength and speed to hold it," Ewan said. 

"I had to do it tactically - I didn't want to accelerate super hard at the start, I left a gap a little bit and around 200m to go I had a gap to run in and then I really accelerated." 

Ewan has now won five Giro stage but he hopes for more.

"There's a lot more I want to do in cycling and I'm happy that every year I can come back here and still perform well. I hope it continues like this in the future and I'm always super motivated to get as many stages as I can."

Here's the final 2km and Ewan's winning sprint.

The Maglia Rosa Attila Valter seemed to enjoy his first day in the spotlight. 

“I wasn't nervous. I felt lucky that I could enjoy my day in the Maglia Rosa," he said. 

"I felt like a different rider with the jersey. I felt very respected in the peloton and I want to thank all the riders for their congratulations. To pass through the beautiful cities of Italy with people cheering for the Maglia Rosa, I had to pinch myself to realise that it was really me.”

The Giro’s second weekend brings two stages with 3,400 metres of vertical gain. 

First up is this westerly run from Foggia into the Matese Regional Park, where the route turns south to finish with a short, but steep finale at Guardia Sanframondi.

The stage rolls from the off, which should enable a breakaway to get clear. As this is the easier of the weekend’s two mountain stages, certainly in terms of the final section, the escapees should have a better chance of staying away and contesting the day’s spoils between them.

There’s the same amount of climbing on Sunday but it’s packed into a shorter stage with a much more difficult finale at the ski station of Campo Felice. 

It begins in the small Abruzzo town Castel di Sangro, renowned for the exploits of its football team in the 1990s that American writer Joe McGinniss wrote about so engagingly in his book The Miracle of Castel di Sangro.

Will this stage produce a miracle of its own? Perhaps, as there are six climbs on the menu, two of them uncategorised, and very little valley riding at all. The final gravel section at the finish will be a question mark for many climbers, which is more common to Strade Bianche than the Giro.

It will be fascinating to see if and how the two stages impact the GC and the big contenders, especially the dirt finish on Sunday. 

Peter Sagan missed out today but this video shows why.

Thanks for joining our live coverage today. With our servers ands site back up to full speed, we'll have more news and interviews from our journalists at the race Alasdair Fotheringham and Barry Ryan in the new few hours and then full live coverage of the weekend stages. 

Grazie mille for following us today. Arrivederci!