Giro d'Italia: Bilbao wins stage 7

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Pello Bilbao (Astana Pro Team) timed his attack to perfection to win a frenetic stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia to l'Aquila. The Spanish rider attacked with 1.5km to go and held off a concerted chase to beat Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) and Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) by 5 seconds.

Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) held onto his race lead, thanks to some help from teams such as Trek-Segafredo, after a chaotic and blisteringly fast stage. Despite containing two classified climbs, the 185km stage averaged just over 45kph.

"It was a really important day for me today. It took a long time to get my first victory in a three-week race. This was only possible with a big team like Astana. Thank you to all of the team," Bilbao said after the stage. "It was a really big advantage (to have Zeits in the breakaway) because Andrey was pulling really hard. That's why we kept a gap to be more relaxed and to only think of the victory. He did impressive.

"[Getting into the break] was a little bit improvised. At first Dario was the man that had to go in the break, but today was really complicated to go in the break. In the end I also started to go in the big groups because we saw dangerous groups were going. I tried, I had legs, and until the end."

The stage was fast and furious right from the start and the winning move would not get away until after the halfway point. The break initially consisted of 12 riders, but dwindled to five as the riders took on the second category Le Svolte di Popoli. José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar) made it six when he caught and passed the leaders inside the final four kilometres.

The chasers remained calm and dragged the Movistar rider back before Bilbao made his attack with just 1.5 kilometres to go. After a brief pause as the others looked at each other, Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) decided to chase down Bilbao. It looked like he might just take back the Astana rider, who appeared to be struggling on the last climb, but he did not have enough to bring Bilbao back.

In the end, Bilbao had just enough of a gap to hold the chasers off and take his first ever Grand Tour stage win.

How it happened

The grind of the opening week continued with another long-distance affair on stage 7. It might not have breached the 200km mark, but it was still a decent effort at 185km and with plenty of undulating terrain and two categorised climbs to contend with. Conti started the day with a 1:41 lead in the overall classification after finishing second on stage 6.

Following the first breakaway win of the race the day before, Friday's stage was expected to follow a similar format. However, in traditional Giro d'Italia fashion, it would not be so simple for the peloton as rider upon rider attempted to break clear of the bunch before being brought back.

Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Conor Dunne (Israel Cycling Academy), Rafał Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) were among the many riders that attacked in the opening kilometres. By the first intermediate sprint, after almost 40 kilometres, a breakaway was still yet to form and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was able to challenge for the sprint and add yet more points to his tally in the fight for the cyclamen jersey.

The frenetic string of attacks made for a blisteringly fast pace and it would take its victims, including Conti's teammate Fernando Gaviria. The pace was too much for the Colombian, who had been suffering with pain in his left knee for a few days. One of Primož Roglič's key men, Laurens De Plus (Jumbo-Visma) would follow a little later after struggling in the cars for several kilometres.

With only five riders left to help him, it was left to Conti to help chase down several of the breakaway attempts. Mercifully for the Italian, Bahrain-Merida helped to make the chase at points but the pace remained relentless.

Some 80 kilometres into the stage and the race still hadn't settled down, while the average speed was close to 50kph. It wasn't until close to the halfway point that a group managed to get a sizable gap on the tiring peloton. Formolo sparked the move and several others would eventually follow, including Bilbao, Rojas, Cattaneo Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Andrey Zeits (Astana), Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale), Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe), Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Lucas Hamilton (Mitchelton-Scott) and Sebastian Henao (Team Ineos).

After an exhausting first half to the stage, the peloton knocked off the pace and the leaders were able to build a reasonable advantage. Tired as they were, UAE Team Emirates and Conti still had to be wary of Rojas, who was a serious threat to the Italian's lead at just 2:12 down. The breakaway worked well together until they reached the climb of Le Svolte di Popoli, when riders began being distanced. Both De Gendt and Plaza were shown the back door from the peloton, while the sprinters were quickly distanced from the peloton.

A few riders lighter, the break continued to build their advantage and Rojas moved into the virtual pink jersey as it reached 2:15. That proved enough for Trek-Segafredo to spring into action and help UAE Team Emirates, sensing that they day might be about to run away from them. The big effort did some damage and took around 30 seconds out of the gap in quick order.

As the pressure was put on by the bunch behind, the lead group began to dwindle and with seven kilometres to go only five riders remained up front – Hamilton, Cattaneo, Formolo, Gallopin and Bilbao. Having worked well together earlier on, they began to attack each other in an attempt to reduce the numbers further.

Meanwhile, Rojas did not give up and worked his way back to the leading group inside the final four kilometres. After missing out the day before, he did not hang about and immediately went past the former leading group. He was eventually brought back, before Bilbao made a move with 1.5km remaining.

As they passed under the flamme rouge, the road began rearing up and would stay that way until the line. Cattaneo tried to follow Bilbao and looked like he might have the Spaniard, but Bilbao had just enough to stay away.

The peloton crossed the finish line just over a minute behind the leaders, ensuring Conti was safe in the pink jersey for at least another day.

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