Giro d'Italia: Ulissi wins in Fiuggi

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Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) emerged from a hectic sprint on the rising final kilometre in Fiuggi, stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia, to win his first race since serving a nine-month ban for asthma drug Salbutamol. He tested positive during the 2014 Giro d’Italia and only made a comeback in April at the Tour of the Basque Country.

The Lampre-Merida team worked for both Ulissi and sprinter Sacha Modolo in the final kilometre, out powering the Orica-GreenEdge team that was working for Simon Gerrans. When Modolo sat up, Ulissi emerged along the barriers and had the speed to beat Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge)

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) finished the stage safely in the peloton and kept the leader’s pink jersey after being protected and guided by his teammates throughout the stage. Contador was careful to protect his painful left shoulder during the stage but occasionally got out of the saddle in the final kilometres. He was in pain but pulled on the pink jersey on the podium and looks able to continue in the Giro d’Italia. Fabio Aru (Astana) remains second overall at two seconds, with Richie Porte (Team Sky) at 20 seconds.

Ulissi celebrated his victory, even stopping to drop to his knees in tears. He emotionally hugged his teammates, who celebrated with him.

“This is a liberation for me,” Ulissi said. “I’ve been through some difficult months but I’m really happy now and how I reacted to everything that happened. I’ve got to thank my family, my wife and daughter, my parents, friends and my great team that supported me through everything.”

Contador was relieved to have made it through the long stage and tried to stay optimistic for the rest of the race.

“Bueno, I’m happy that I got through the day. I knew I was not feeling great and I suffered, even if things seem to be getting better. We raced for more than seven and a half hours and after four hours I was struggling with my hand. The only thing I want to do now is put some ice on my shoulder and recover from the long stage,” he said on Italian television, opting not to attend the post-race press conference.

“Tomorrow the finish up to Campitello Matese will in theory be a difficult day for me, even if it should have been a good day for me. We’d hoped I’d be able to attack but now we’ll see how I feel, stay relaxed and go on the defensive. I hope to get better day after day.”

How it happened

The longest stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia was always going to be a marathon but because of a stiff headwind and with the riders still thinking about Thursday’s crash in the sprint, the long ride south via Roma was covered at a steady pace.

The break of the stage formed after an early attack of three riders was pulled back after 10 kilometres. Marco Bandiera (Androni Sidermec), Nicola Boem (Bardiani-CSF), Pier Paolo De Negri (Nippo Vini Fantini) and Nikolay Myhaylov (CCC Sprandi) accelerated away and this time the peloton let them go, with the gap rapidly rising to three minutes. None of the four were a threat overall and so their gap rose to over 10 minutes after 50km of racing.

The Tinkoff-Saxo team controlled the chase, respecting their role as race leaders and protecting Contador from possible problems. However, the average speed for the stage was around 35km/h due to the a strong headwind.

Bandiera accelerated clear to win the sprint points near the Vallelunga motor circuit after 151km but quickly eased up. He took time to take a piece of paper out of his pocket to wish hid dad happy birthday but little else happened, with BMC, Orica-GreenEdge and Trek Factory Racing sending a rider to the head of the peloton to help with the chase.

De Negri took the climber’s points at Monterotondo after 184km but the break’s lead began to fall in the Roman hills after BMC hit the front. It seems they decided to set up the finish for Philippe Gilbert. It was just four minutes with 50km to go and 1:45 with 40km to go.

Bandiera won the second sprint of the day, with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) beating Elia Viviani (Team Sky) for the minor placing behind. Now the peloton was close to catching the quartet after their long day out front. The junction came with 21km, with Tinkoff-Saxo hitting the front with four riders to protect Contador. The hills and distance began to hurt, with Petacchi, Boonen and Haussler all dropped.

Tosatto finally moved off the front at 10km to go, with Contador gratefully giving him a nod of the head in thanks for his huge effort. Greipel was suffering but was determined to try his hand in the sprint. Lotto Soudal lead him out but the final kilometre included several kinds and rose at two and then four per cent.

It was too much for the Belgian team and even Orica-GreenEdge suffered. Michael Matthews sacrificed his chances for Gerrans but he was not perfectly placed. Lampre-Merida seemed in charge heading into the finishing straight but they also ran out of legs, with Modolo sitting up. At the same moment Ulissi came through along the barriers and vented his anger on the pedals. Nobody was able to match his anger and speed and the Livornese rider took the win he had been wanting.

Contador and the overall contenders finished safely in the peloton, knowing their day will come on the Saturday, on the second mountain finish of this year’s Giro d’Italia to Campitello Matese, not far from Naples.

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