Giro d'Italia stage 7 Live – GC riders ready to contest the race's first summit finish

Literally all eight riders are there. An unusual sight.

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.

Ineos Grenadiers are involved in the chase now.

Gianni Moscon is annoyed about something. Unclear what.

25km to go

The final climb starts with 11.9km to go.

Well, he's now back at the doctor's car just behind the bunch.

Bardet is back in the bunch.

Scaroni is back with the break.

Bardet is chasing back on – just 25 seconds behind the bunch now.

The leaders' gap is just a minute now. They'll be caught soon.

Mechanical for Scaroni so he's just dropped out of the break – his chain came off.

Dog in the road, but the break avoid incident.

Bardet looks really uncomfortable.

Remember, this is the Frenchman's final Grand Tour. Would hate to see him not finish.

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.

Replay shows it was just a touch a wheel that saw a handful of riders crash on the left hand side of the road.

Meanwhile, the gap to the break is down under two minutes.

David Gaudu also went down, has a bloody hand and he's holding his wrist. Doesn't look good.

Crash

A few riders down, including Romain Bardet

Lidl-Trek are really digging in now, led by Pedersen himself. Mathias Vacek is apparently thinking of having a go himself today.

The bonus sprint comes with 13km to go, right at the base of the final climb.

The gap dips below three minutes for the first time in a while.

50km to go

We've got a descent, then the Red Bull Kilometre bonus sprint, and then the final climb still to come. 

Intermediate sprint 2: Ovindoli

Again the break don't really contest the sprint, Tonelli takes the maximum points.

And here are our leaders. They've been riding very well all day.

Lidl-Trek have just sent Daan Hoole to the front of the break to help out with the chase. 

Pedersen is still in the bunch after the Vado della Forcella, but I don't think they're doing this because they think he might survive to the finish – they're thinking about Giulio Ciccone today.

Here's the peloton on the Monte Urano earlier.

We're onto a bit of plateau and will tackle the second intermediate sprint before properly descending. 

It's dry at the moment.

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.

The peloton just crested the top of the climb, and they're making inroads on our leaders.

KOM: Vado della Forcella

Paul Double takes maximum point again, with ease. 

He's got 36 mountains points now, second behind Fortunato's 58.

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.

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.

The gap is almost at four minutes now.

Still 8km to go on this climb. It gets a little steeper in the final 5km, with gradients above 5%.

The cameraman is eating arrostocini and showing us all! These meat kebabs are the local delicacy in Abruzzo.

I just had pasta, despite the fact that I'm off to Italy on Monday, and will be surviving on little else for two weeks.

Here's what the peloton has looked like pretty much all day.

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.

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.

A glimpse of the man going for pink today.

And here's an update on Juri Hollmann, who crashed yesterday. Double fracture of the forearm and a hip fracture. 

An abandon to report – Casper van Uden's final lead-out rider, Bram Welten.

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.

Double in particular will have an interest in making it to the top ahead of the peloton.

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.

Nico Denz is on the front, powering it, but gives a little wave to the camera. Hey Nico!

Climb

And we're climbing again already.

This is the big one: the Vado della Forcella has an average gradient of only 3.6%, but it goes on for 21.5km.

Groves is recounting his little offie to a teammate and having a laugh. It's not all serious, this cycling thing. 

Double has launched himself into third in the KOM standings with that climb.

Kaden Groves just veered off the road and nearly through someone's gate, but he's back on the road now.

The peloton have just crested the climb and are onto the descent.

KOM: Monte Urano

Paul Double puts in a big acceleration and claims maximum points over the top of the climb.

He looks strong!

Although the leaders' gap is going up a bit. 2:22 now. Peloton maybe easing of a little more than the break.

Pretty steady up this climb, in both the break and the peloton. No point going hard now with so much still to come.

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.

100km to go

68km done, 100km and lots more climbing to go.

The peloton are onto the climb now.

The scenery is really beautiful today. So green and rich. A wet spring in Italy has done wonders for the landscape.

Climb

The break has just started the Monte Urano.

4.6km and a 9.2% gradient coming up. The gap is still just under two minutes.

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.

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.

A moment of appreciate for Mads Pinkersen.

Probably his last day in the race lead, and what a start to this race he has had!

Thymen Arensman is having a snack.

He's one of the riders that has spoken a lot about carb loading, and taking on more than 120g of carbs per hour in tough races.

Here's a bit more about that:

'Training the gut' and preferring solid foods – Thymen Arensman on how the pros pack in the carbohydrates

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.

The gap is 1:44, so Paul Double is now in the virtual lead.

He's just 1:23 down on GC, which is part of the reason why the peloton don't want to give this break too much leeway.

Pink jersey Mads Pedersen is just helping a Jayco rider get their jacket on. What a good guy.

Intermediate sprint: Sulmona

No battle for the sprint and Tonelli rolls through to take the max points – no one in this break is concerned about the maglia ciclamino.

Points only for the first five so there'll be no battle from the peloton behind.

First intermediate sprint of the day coming in 3km.

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%.

A few sketchy corners on this wet descents, everyone in the breakaway is being really careful.

Lush green landscapes on offer today.

In the peloton, Red Bull are leading things but Ineos Grenadiers are also in formation behind them.

They're looking after Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman on GC.

The leaders are now a minute ahead, though taking it cautiously down this dsecent.

It's raining as we start a descent.

Gap is up to 30 seconds, I think we may have a breakaway.

Just depends whether the peloton let them build a few minutes' lead, or just keep them on a tight leash all day.

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.

Three riders have just joined the leaders – Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL). 

Still just a 14 second gap, this move isn't established yet.

Jay Vine is back in the bunch, but the other four are trying to hold on again.

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.

Vine is joined by Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro Tonelli (Polti-VisitMalta), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team).

They have a gap of 13 seconds.

A few riders are bridging up to Vine now. 

Pedersen is back in the bunch for now, but interesting stuff – Lidl-Trek aren't going to sit back today, it seems.

No one's expecting Pedersen to hold onto pink today, but hey, he may as well try, and honour the jersey.

Mads Pedersen is on the attack now! Hello pink jersey!

Jay Vine is attacking, so of course, Red Bull are chasing. UAE clearly want to make it hard for their rivals today.

That's the first climb over, and we're onto a plateau now.

KOM: Roccaraso

Mountains jersey wearer Lorenzo Fortunato takes the maximum points, with teammate Ulissi taking second whilst Sylvain Moniquet is third – nice teamwork from Ulissi to limit Moniquet's haul.

XDS Astana are really keen to be involved in the day's break.

All together for the moment.

And the gap is closed. It's going to be a real process to sort out a break that everyone is happy with. 

Rafał Majka of UAE is trying to come across... Not sure Red Bull will be pleased with that.

The four riders are:

- Paul Double (Jayco AlUla)

- Wout Poels (XDS Astana)

- Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep)

- Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè)

Gap is tiny though.

Four riders up the road now. Let's see if the peloton are going to let this stick.

Kooij is one of the riders slipping out the back of the bunch.

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.

Paul Double and Louis Meintjes are having a go now.

Dani Martínez is policing things for Red Bull. They clearly don't want to let anyone threatening go in the break.

Aaaand the gap is close. We go again. Same riders animating.

Six riders have a little gap for now, an Astana rider is trying to bridge.

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.

The attacks are going already, from Decathlon, Picnic PostNL, Bardiani and others.

Jay Vine is trying for UAE, but Red Bull don't seem to want to let that happen.

Climb

We're already climbing – 7.4km up to Roccaraso.

Official start given

The flag finally waves and away they go!

Breakaway battle incoming...

Official start delayed

Just waiting for the flag drop here.

Here's a reminder of what's coming up today:

Sprints:

Sprint 1 - Sulmona, km. 49.9

Sprint 2 - Ovindoli, km. 115.5

Time bonus sprint - Tagliacozzo, km. 155.2

Climbs:

Roccaraso (cat. 3), km. 7.4

Monte Urano (cat. 2), km. 70 (4.5km, 9.4% avg 14% max)

Vado della Forcella (cat. 2), km. 105.7 (21.6km, 3.6% avg 9% max)

Tagliacozzo (cat. 1), km. 168 (12.6km, 5.4% avg 14% max)

Neutral start given

The riders are on the move for 2.3km of neutral.

"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.

The riders are climbing as soon as the stage starts – pretty much already in the neutral – and then it's up and down all day, so GC teams will need to be careful about the breakaway.

If you need reminding, here's the current GC standings, but we're expecting them all to change by the end of today.

The current GC standings at the Giro d'Italia 2025 after stage 6

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.

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.

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.

We caught up with the team:

'Tomorrow, everything changes' - Juan Ayuso and UAE Team Emirates-XRG aiming to do battle on Giro d'Italia's first summit finish

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.

Jai Hindley suffers fractured vertebra in Giro d'Italia crash, Jan Hirt finishes stage with broken femur – injury update

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 spoke to his coach:

Tom Pidcock's coach says first Giro d'Italia summit finish 'could definitely be an opportunity' as GC bid catches rivals' attention

What's on the cards today? Lots of climbing, including a 12km summit finish, with gradients of 9% in the final 3km.

Check out our stage preview for the full details, and a look at the contenders:

2025 Giro d'Italia stage 7 preview – Will Primož Roglič reclaim pink on the hardest stage so far?

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.

Here's how Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe assessed the situation last night:

'Jai played a major role in our strategy' – Primož Roglič suffers tactical blow before first Giro d'Italia summit finish in loss of Hindley

Today's stage is an important one, but the race is very much still reeling from the effects of yesterday's big crash.

My colleague James Moultrie is on the ground in Italy, and he got the rundown on what happened:

'As soon as you touched the brakes, you went down' – Teams assess the damage at Giro d'Italia after wet road 'like ice' causes mass crash

I'm Matilda, Assistant Features Editor here at Cyclingnews and I'll be taking you through all the action today.

It's a big day of climbing – 3,300m of elevation on the cards, and a really steep finale.

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia – the first summit finish of this year's race!

Who will be in pink at the end of the day? Follow along to find out!