After Stage 6’s fried-egg profiled sprinter’s special, the Giro returns to the mountains on Stage 7 with a vicious 177km shark-toothed leg-biter from Marina di San Salvo to Pescara, along Italy’s Adriatic coast. We’ll have live coverage from 10.15pm AEST.
The Roar’s own Jono Lovelock has written a great preview of the stage and it’s poised to be a cracker.
The route provides everything that riders don’t want the day before a long individual time trial: flat sections are few and far between, there are constant changes in gradient and a couple of relatively short but punishingly steep climbs.
There will be nowhere to ease off and save the legs.
After an undulating first half of the stage, including a gradual climb over nearly 40km to Guardiagrele, all of the day’s categorised climbs come near the finish.
The first climb likely to trouble a few heavier riders is the Cat 3 to Chieti Pietragrossa, coming 136km into the stage. It’s a mere 2.2km in length, but with a maximum gradient of 16 percent it will certainly get the lactic acid pumping.
Not long afterwards comes the ascent to Chieti Tricalle – shorter, but with a peak gradient of 19 percent there will be many riders cursing into their handlebars.
Oh, and someone decided to put an intermediate sprint at the top, which should add some aggression.
Next come the Santa Maria di Criptis (Cat 3, 3.5km, maximum gradient of 18 percent) and the relatively benign (ha!) San Silvestro (Cat 4, 1.5km, 14 percent).
Then it’s a furious descent and a dash to the finish, which is the only flat part of the stage. Nobody can accuse race organiser Michele Acquarone of lacking a sense of humour.
Despite the flat finish, this stage will probably be too hard for many of the big sprinters, being more suited to a classics rider – think Ardennes or Milan-San Remo.
I think there’s a more than reasonable chance of a breakaway being successful, but a more interesting scenario is whether any of Wiggins’ rivals really try to make him suffer, in the hope of blunting his legs (and perhaps his confidence) before Stage 8’s crucial time trial.
Luca Paolini (Katusha) stills leads the race, with a lead of 17 seconds to Sky’s Rigoberto Uran, 26 seconds to Benat Intxausti (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana, 31″), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) and Wiggins (Sky) both sit on 34″.
In other words, it’s all still to play for, and there’s plenty to lose on Stage 7. We’ll bring you live coverage from the Giro d’Italia from 10.15pm AEST.
Follow Jason on Twitter @jasonkohlmorgen
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Haha. Only saw that note this morning. Well play Jason.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
And that concludes our coverage of Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia. Thank you for joining us, and be to sure to check out The Roar tomorrow morning for a recap of today's stage and come back tomorrow night as we cover Stage 8 - the individual time trial live.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Benat Intxausti looks absolutely delighted to be presented with the Maglia Rosa. He probably didn't expect that this morning. The race organisers fire a cannon to celebrate - I mean, isn't that how you celebrate a big occasion?
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Hansen sprays the crowd with champagne, they won't notice, they're all drenched already
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Adam Hansen brings a giant Aussie flag out with him to the podium, good on ya mate. Chapeau even
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Luca Paolini dropped to 15th overall, Bradley Wiggins and Rigoberto Uran both drop out of the top 20.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Top 10 in the overall standings 1. Benat Intxausti (Movistar) - 28h30m04 2. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) - 5" behind 3. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) - 8" 4. Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) - 10" 5. Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) - 13" 6. Cadel Evans (BMC) - 16" 7. Robert Gesink (Blanco) - 19" 8. Ivan Santaromita (BMC) - 28" 9. Pieter Weening (Orica GreenEDGE) - 29" 10. Robert Kiserlovski (Radioshack Leopard Trek) - 34"
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Benat Intxausti of Movistar, who started the day in 3rd, will now be in the Maglia Rosa
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
So, the results of Stage 7 1. Adam Hansen - 4h35m49 2. Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani) - 1:07 behind 3. Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini) - 1:07 4. Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) - 1:07 5. Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) - 1:07 Cadel Evans was 6th, Pieter Weening was 9th and Ryder Hesjedal was 10th.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Hansen says that he's usually pretty good in the breakaway, so he wasn't surprised he could drop his fellow escapees towards the end. It certainly was a great ride.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
What a thoroughly exciting stage this has been.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Nibali and Wiggins have just finished, and it looked like Paolini was in that group too, if that's the case, we'll have a new leader tonight.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Cadel Evans finishes safely in the first group after Hansen, a good ride from him. Wiggins still yet to finish.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Evans up there safely, so is Hesjedal
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
The peloton in the last kilometre now, they weren't far behind Hansen!
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Thumbs up from Adam Hansen to his team car, then he zips up his jersey, kisses his gloves and raises his hands in celebration. What a ride from Adam Hansen, he looks absolutely delighted. I'm absolutely delighted.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
It is pouring at the finish, but Adam Hansen doesn't care at all, he's about to win a Grand Tour stage.
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Adam Hansen is in the last kilometre. He's going to win Stage 7
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Hansen gives the bike camera a big smile, he believes now, he can sense a victory in the offing
jasonkohlmorgen
Roar Guru
Wiggins has some team mates for company finally! 2.2 kilometres left for Hansen....go on my son!