2017 Giro d'Italia Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2017 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Ewan takes the photo finish victory at stage 7 of the Giro
After a long stage ridden at steady pace, Orica-Scott’s Caleb Ewan was the fastest in an aggressive bunch sprint beating sprint jersey wearer Fernando Gavira (Quick-Step Floors).
On paper this is a day for the sprinters. This stage does have some climbs, however none are steep and shouldn’t drop the fast men of the peloton.
Over the first 140 km, the route is essentially flat (with just a short descent after the start), mainly on straight and wide roads, and only becomes more elaborate when crossing urban areas. After cresting the Bosco delle Pianelle KOM summit, the final part of the stage is more complicated, as the route passes through several urban areas, with roundabouts, traffic dividers, pedestrian islands, setts paving and speed bumps being the main obstacles.
The final 40 km are undulating, and going slightly up, with arrival in Alberobello, stage town for the first time. The final kilometres are fairly complex, as the route runs partly on wide and straight roads, and partly on city roads marked by series of bends and partial narrowings. From 5 to 1.5 km to the finish, the route runs mostly uphill, with a short descent that ends 700 m before the finish. The route climbs slightly in the stage finale, with a few mild bends. The finish line sits on a 100-m long and 7.5-m wide asphalt straight. At 224km, this is the second longest stage of the race.
And like yesterday a break went straight from the gun - this time three riders Simone Ponzi (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Dmitry Kozonchuk (Gazprom-Rusvelo) and Giuseppe Fonzi (Wilier-Selle Italia). After just 15 kilometers the trio had a three minute lead!
Learning from their mistake from stage 6 the group reduced the gap to two minutes and 45 seconds as they rode through the flatter portion of the stage.
Unfortunately, fortune didn’t smile on Ponzi as he had a mechanical with 170 kilometers remaining and dropped out of the break. Now there was just two riders against the peloton. While the loss of one man in a three man break might doom it, instead they gained time.
As the kilometers ticked by the duo kept a steady time gap of between three and four minutes as Quick Step Floors kept everything under control. The average pace was 24 miles an hour - not fast, but enough to keep it tough due to the distance of the stage.
Kozonchuk took both Intermediate Sprints with current sprint leader wearer Fernando Gavira (Quick-Step Floors) finish third in each sprint. After the final sprint, the peloton finally awoke and increased the pace starting to reel in the break. Any thought of the duo staying away was quickly dashed.
With 50 kilometers remaining the gap was barely over two minutes and by the time the break went under 40 kilometers to go the gap was under two minutes for the first time in the stage.
Finally with just 18 kilometers left, the break was caught and the general classification teams moved to the front to keep their leaders out of trouble. The final run in to the line was tricky with many turns, so it would be very easy for a rider to crash.
In the closing kilometers the teams set up their sprint trains. In addition to the many turns leading up to the finish line, there were no finishing circuits meaning no preview of the line.
From around the final curve to the line three riders were battling for the stage win: Ewan, Gavira, and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe). Ewan, with his extreme aero position was just a bit faster, beating Gavira for the stage win. It was so close that the officials needed to go to the photo finish to determine the winner. This was the Australian's first stage victory and one he’ll remember for a long time.\n
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