Spain’s Juan Ayuso made his move on the climb to the finish to win stage seven of the Giro d’Italia on Friday, his first Grand Tour stage success, with Primoz Roglic moving into the overall lead.
The first mountain stage of the race, a 168km ride from Castel di Sangro to Tagliacozzo, came down to Ayuso having the legs to get away from his rivals in the final 400 metres, with his UAE Team-Emirates colleague Isaac del Toro coming second.
“It’s my fourth Grand Tour, and especially in the two Vueltas a Espana I raced I was sometimes very close, but I never managed to pull it off,” Ayuso said.
“So to finally do it today in my first Giro d’Italia is something super special that I will always remember,” the 22-year-old added.
Colombian Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was third, denying Roglic (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) a place on the podium, but the Slovenian did take the leader’s pink jersey from Mads Pedersen, with the Dane losing touch on the final climb.
The stage was seen as the first real test for the general classification. Pedersen had been expected to relinquish his hold on the pink jersey, with the race having favoured the sprinters up until now, and so it proved.
There was no easing into the stage, with the riders climbing from the start, and tackling another two classified climbs before the steep ascent to the finish.
An early breakaway of seven riders opened up a gap of four minutes, but their lead came down rapidly. They made it to the start of the final 12km climb before finally getting caught five kilometres from the finish.
Pedersen repaid the work done by his Lidl-Trek teammates, who helped him to three stage wins, by putting in plenty of work at the front of the chasing peloton, to give Giulio Ciccone and Mathias Vacek a chance of glory.
The Dane’s race was done as they hit the rise to the line, and Ciccone was first to make a move just over one kilometre from the finish, but he was left shaking his head in frustration, unable to break away from his rivals.
Bernal was next to try but it was Ayuso who made his attack count, with the Spaniard stretching his lead coming to the line.
“I knew that I could do only one attack and not mess around with two or three on this final which was very explosive,” Ayuso said.
“When I saw my distance I went full gas. It was important today to not only get the win but also try and recover the time I lost in the time trial.”
Ayuso’s efforts put him second overall, four seconds behind Roglic, with Del Toro five seconds further back in third.
Pedersen’s focus has always been on the points jersey, which he still holds, and while he is now almost 15 minutes behind Roglic, he will hope to take more stage glory before the race ends.
