Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia – the first summit finish of this year's race!
I'm Matilda, Assistant Features Editor here at Cyclingnews and I'll be taking you through all the action today.
Today's stage is an important one, but the race is very much still reeling from the effects of yesterday's big crash.
The biggest abandon was Jai Hindley. He was a key supporter for Primož Roglič – the favourite to take pink today, and probably to win the race overall – so he's a big loss.
What's on the cards today? Lots of climbing, including a 12km summit finish, with gradients of 9% in the final 3km.
Today will be a big test for a lot of riders, not least Tom Pidcock, who's supposedly not targetting GC, but today will reveal his climbing level.
We'll bring you a full DNS list once the stage is underway, but here's this morning's update on the injuries and abandons after yesterday's crash.
One rider who is hoping to challenge Roglič in this Giro is Juan Ayuso. He's been pretty lowkey so far in the race, but that could all change today.
The riders are signing on in Castel di Sangro right now. The roll out starts at 12.50 CEST (in about 23 minutes from now) and the official start will be at 12.55.
If you recognise the name Castel di Sangro, it might be because of their football team. In the 90s, the team miraculously climbed through five leagues to play in Serie B, the second-highest league in Italian football. It's the small town's biggest claim to fame.
If you need reminding, here's the current GC standings, but we're expecting them all to change by the end of today.
"The last part of the race is pretty straightforward, but the start will be spicy," Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe DS Patxi Vila tells TNT Sports.
Neutral start given
Here's a reminder of what's coming up today:
Official start delayed
Official start given
Climb
The attacks are going already, from Decathlon, Picnic PostNL, Bardiani and others.
Bardiani and Polti VisitMalta leading things at the moment – Nico Denz has successfully told Vine he's got to get back in line in the bunch.
Six riders have a little gap for now, an Astana rider is trying to bridge.
Aaaand the gap is close. We go again. Same riders animating.
Dani Martínez is policing things for Red Bull. They clearly don't want to let anyone threatening go in the break.
Paul Double and Louis Meintjes are having a go now.
Oof, only 3km into the first climb of the day and riders are already struggling in the bunch. Will be a long day for anyone dropped now.
Kooij is one of the riders slipping out the back of the bunch.
Four riders up the road now. Let's see if the peloton are going to let this stick.
The four riders are:
Rafał Majka of UAE is trying to come across... Not sure Red Bull will be pleased with that.
And the gap is closed. It's going to be a real process to sort out a break that everyone is happy with.
All together for the moment.
XDS Astana are really keen to be involved in the day's break.
KOM: Roccaraso
That's the first climb over, and we're onto a plateau now.
Jay Vine is attacking, so of course, Red Bull are chasing. UAE clearly want to make it hard for their rivals today.
Mads Pedersen is on the attack now! Hello pink jersey!
No one's expecting Pedersen to hold onto pink today, but hey, he may as well try, and honour the jersey.
Pedersen is back in the bunch for now, but interesting stuff – Lidl-Trek aren't going to sit back today, it seems.
A few riders are bridging up to Vine now.
Vine is joined by Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro Tonelli (Polti-VisitMalta), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team).
Red Bull are still trying to close this down though. Having Vine up there is dangerous, and Prodhomme too is only 2:25 down on GC.
Jay Vine is back in the bunch, but the other four are trying to hold on again.
Three riders have just joined the leaders – Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL).
The gap is very slowly growing. There's no obvious reason Red Bull shouldn't be happy with this, but they will keep an eye on the gap because of Prodhomme.
Gap is up to 30 seconds, I think we may have a breakaway.
It's raining as we start a descent.
The leaders are now a minute ahead, though taking it cautiously down this dsecent.
In the peloton, Red Bull are leading things but Ineos Grenadiers are also in formation behind them.
Lush green landscapes on offer today.
A few sketchy corners on this wet descents, everyone in the breakaway is being really careful.
Still some descending to do, and then the race will hit the Monte Urano – that's a 4.6km climb with an average gradient of 9.2%.
First intermediate sprint of the day coming in 3km.
Intermediate sprint: Sulmona
Pink jersey Mads Pedersen is just helping a Jayco rider get their jacket on. What a good guy.
The gap is 1:44, so Paul Double is now in the virtual lead.
Seems like the peloton want to keep the gap under two minutes for the moment. Gianni Moscon is doing the lion's share of the work on the front for Red Bull.
Thymen Arensman is having a snack.
A moment of appreciate for Mads Pinkersen.
4km to go until the start of the next climb. The bunch is just going through the feed zone - taking bags and throwing away jackets, mainly.
The formation on the front of the bunch is Red Bull, then Ineos Grenadiers, then Lidl-Trek. Everyone's happy for Red Bull to control things, and they'll be keen to assert their dominance.
Climb
The scenery is really beautiful today. So green and rich. A wet spring in Italy has done wonders for the landscape.
The peloton are onto the climb now.
100km to go
The organisers have apparently labelled today as the Queen stage. Not sure what to make of that. The finish is super tough, and there is a lot of climbing, but there are bigger mountain days to come. Though maybe the earliness of this stage and the aggression we're expecting will make for a tougher battle than the final-week stages.
Pretty steady up this climb, in both the break and the peloton. No point going hard now with so much still to come.
Although the leaders' gap is going up a bit. 2:22 now. Peloton maybe easing of a little more than the break.
KOM: Monte Urano
The peloton have just crested the climb and are onto the descent.
Kaden Groves just veered off the road and nearly through someone's gate, but he's back on the road now.
Double has launched himself into third in the KOM standings with that climb.
Groves is recounting his little offie to a teammate and having a laugh. It's not all serious, this cycling thing.
Climb
Nico Denz is on the front, powering it, but gives a little wave to the camera. Hey Nico!
The gap is 2:30 at the moment. It will be interesting to see how both the break and the peloton approach this 20km climb.
The gap is growing. The peloton clearly don't want to push it on the climbs, but the break are working hard - they know their chances of staying away to the finish are fairly slim, so may as well try.
An abandon to report – Casper van Uden's final lead-out rider, Bram Welten.
And here's an update on Juri Hollmann, who crashed yesterday. Double fracture of the forearm and a hip fracture.
A glimpse of the man going for pink today.
The gap is up to 3:30. I think Red Bull just don't want to go too hard before they really need to, so they've knocked the pace off a bit in the bunch.
Riders are putting jackets and gloves on. It's already a chilly day, and will only get colder at the top of the climb, which tops out at just under 1,200m altitude.
Here's what the peloton has looked like pretty much all day.
The cameraman is eating arrostocini and showing us all! These meat kebabs are the local delicacy in Abruzzo.
Still 8km to go on this climb. It gets a little steeper in the final 5km, with gradients above 5%.
The gap is almost at four minutes now.
2km to the top of the climb. Fairly little to report. All the action will come on the run in to and on the final climb.
Looks like Red Bull are just winding up to chase now. Gap has come down by 10 seconds in just a few minutes after Gianni Moscon took over on the front of the bunch.
KOM: Vado della Forcella
The peloton just crested the top of the climb, and they're making inroads on our leaders.
After looking like the peloton were going to keep the break close, we're now asking if the break might actually survive. Red Bull have quite a bit of work to do to close this gap, and 58km to do it.
It's dry at the moment.
We're onto a bit of plateau and will tackle the second intermediate sprint before properly descending.
Here's the peloton on the Monte Urano earlier.
Lidl-Trek have just sent Daan Hoole to the front of the break to help out with the chase.
And here are our leaders. They've been riding very well all day.
Intermediate sprint 2: Ovindoli
50km to go
The gap dips below three minutes for the first time in a while.
The bonus sprint comes with 13km to go, right at the base of the final climb.
Lidl-Trek are really digging in now, led by Pedersen himself. Mathias Vacek is apparently thinking of having a go himself today.
Crash
David Gaudu also went down, has a bloody hand and he's holding his wrist. Doesn't look good.
Replay shows it was just a touch a wheel that saw a handful of riders crash on the left hand side of the road.
A big chasing group has formed after that crash caused a little split – Bardet and his teammates have just attacked out of this group, but they're a minute down on the peloton.
Bardet looks really uncomfortable.
Dog in the road, but the break avoid incident.
Mechanical for Scaroni so he's just dropped out of the break – his chain came off.
The leaders' gap is just a minute now. They'll be caught soon.
Bardet is chasing back on – just 25 seconds behind the bunch now.
Scaroni is back with the break.
Bardet is back in the bunch.
Well, he's now back at the doctor's car just behind the bunch.
25km to go
Gianni Moscon is annoyed about something. Unclear what.
Ineos Grenadiers are involved in the chase now.
The whole Groupama-FDJ team are trying to pace Gaudu back on. They're nearly in the convoy, so still a way off the bunch.
Literally all eight riders are there. An unusual sight.
Gaudu is about 45 seconds behind the bunch, where Lidl-Trek and UAE are leading proceedings.
Oh, that was quick, Gaudu is back in the bunch now. Phew.
Nearly at the Red Bull Kilometre, although seems as if the break are going to take the bonus seconds – they're 1:34 ahead. But the bunch will likely still catch the break, just not before the bonus.
Still a really big peloton here. The climbing hasn't whittled it down much, sprinters still here.
Red Bull Kilometre sprint
The breakaway have just started the final Tagliacozzo climb – 11.9km to go.
Mads Pedersen is leading the bunch, working for his teammates and giving the pink jersey a brilliant farewell.
And as I hit send on that, the pink jersey swings off. Chapeau to him.
We've now got Josh Tarling leading the peloton in support of Arensman and Bernal.
Garofoli and Tonelli are pushing on from the break – they're just 36 seconds ahead of the bunch but trying to hold on as long as possible.
10km to go
Prodhomme and Tarozzi are also with the two leaders, the other three breakaway riders are going backwards.
Ineos are still setting the pace behind.
Bahrain Victorious' Pello Bilbao comes to the front now – is Antonio TIberi feeling good?
Double and Leemreize have just been swept up by the peloton.
Still 27 seconds of a gap. It should be advantage peloton, given how hard this climb gets, but the break will be believing and hoping at least a little bit.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are just coming back to the front of the bunch. They've done most of the work today, and Roglič is still in prime position to take pink.
5km to go
The peloton is really strung out now, unsurprisingly, with Bahrain now setting a strong pace.
Break caught
Bahrain have four riders working on the front, led by the Portuguese rider Afonso Eulálio.
This is a big old turn from Eulálio.
Red Bull have been a little crowded out, as Zambanini takes over for Bahrain.
3km to go
Most GC riders still have teammates here, as it's a pretty big group still.
Ah Bardet is slipping out the back of the peloton. GC not looking good.
Carlos Verona and Mathias Vacek are working for Ciccone on the front.
You can immediately see the effects of these gradients.
Bernal and Arensman still here for Ineos, but with no teammates.
UAE still have four riders – Majka, McNulty, Del Toro and Ayuso. Roglič is sitting just in front on Ayuso.
Oh and Adam Yates, so five for UAE. They do like a mountain train.
Other riders still here: Derek Gee, Max Poole, Simon Yates, Tom Pidcock, Chris Harper, Michael Storer.
Vacek has been the final lead-out for Mads Pedersen, and now he's the final helper for Ciccone uphill.
Bernal leads the response, ahead of Tiberi and Storer.
Ciccone digs in again, but not a full attack.
Carapaz is still here too, haven't mentioned him.
Arensman is setting the pace now, Bernal on his wheel.
Looks like something of an uphill sprint is coming, as still some 15 riders here.
Bernal launches off Arensman's wheel!
Bernal doesn't quite make a gap but he eased off pretty quickly.
Roglič is quite a way back as Ayuso charges on.
Ayuso wins
Isaac Del Toro takes second, Egan Bernal third.
Roglič should still take pink, even with Ayuso's bonus seconds, as the gap wasn't huge.
That's a first ever Grand Tour stage win for Juan Ayuso. He's finished on a Grand Tour podium before, but never taken an individual stage win.
Results
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe worked all day, it was finish almost made for him, and Roglič loses four seconds plus bonus seconds to his main rival...
A moment for the riders in second and third.
Seven riders finished in that four-second group with Roglič et al, and a few ceded a couple more seconds – Max Poole and Michael Storer both finishes eight seconds down on Ayuso.
As expected, some significant reshuffles in the GC.
The winning moment!
"It's my fourth Grand Tour, and especially in the two Vuelta a Españas I raced I was sometimes very close, but I never managed to pull it off, so to finally do it today in my first Giro d'Italia is something super special and I will always remember," Ayuso said in his winner's interview.
Lidl-Trek say goodbye to the pink jersey, but it was a good day for them.
Roglič is currently on the podium donning the pink jersey.
Social media is full of happiness for Egan Bernal – he looks pretty happy too.
And here's the final for those who haven't seen it on TV:
Adam Yates tells TNT that Ayuso and Del Toro have been complaining about feeling bad all week.
Bardet finished just over five minutes down today, that's a shame for any GC hopes he had. Let's hope he's well enough to continue and maybe go for a stage win in his final Grand Tour.
Roglič has been speaking to TNT in the mixed zone:
Here's your first shot of Roglič back in pink.
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