(Campo Imperatore) The first stage of the Giro d’Italia in the mountains ended without the top of the general classification being turned upside down.
The leaders all crossed the finish line around the snowbanks just over three minutes after the three cyclists who had escaped.
The Norwegian Andreas Leknessund thus retained the pink leader’s jersey. Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic maintained their respective second and fifth place.
Italian Davide Bais won the seventh stage of the tour, launching an attack to break away from his two rivals with 150 meters to go. Bais, of Eolo-Kometa, recorded a first career victory in the professional ranks.
“It’s unexpected because I joined the breakaway to prepare for an attack by Lorenzo Fortunato,” said Bais. He was the inspiration for the team’s decision to try to win a stage in the mountains since he did it two years ago in Monte Zoncolan. Towards the end, I was the fastest and waited for the right moment to give it a final push. »
Karel Vacek took second, nine seconds behind Bais, while Simone Petilli followed 16 seconds behind the winner.
The 218 kilometer route from Capua ended with a very steep climb from the Gran Sasso to Campo Imperatore in the central region of Abruzzo.
The peloton never really pushed the pace and finished 3:10 behind Bais. Evenepoel finished fourth, just ahead of Roglic, after a brief sprint.
Evenepoel is still 28 seconds behind Leknessund. Roglic finds himself 1: 12 from the lead.
“It was a very tough climb,” said Leknessund. But we handled the situation well. I expected attacks, but there were none because of the headwind. »
Derek Gee of Ottawa took the 97e rank of the stage, 18:58 from the winner. The Israel-Premier Tech cyclist slipped to 68e rung of the general classification, 28:08 from the lead.
On Saturday, the cyclists will cover 207 kilometers between Terni and Fossombrone as part of the eighth stage.
The Tour of Italy will end on May 28 in Rome.