Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to stage number 7 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia. It's the first of three stages of more than 200km length - and it's the longest of the whole race! What a dessert to conclude the first week of racing - and a lot of time to think about what happened so far.
Especially the first half of the race should really just be about covering kilometers, with not much else to care about. But the finale definitely promises some action - and a great chance for the puncheurs to take the win today!
But first, let's start - with the start. Today's stage starts a few kilometers East from yesterday's finish line, in Grosseto, the capital of the Province bearing the same name. Being the home of more than 80,000 people today, the history hasn't always been bright. Lying in a swampy region, the city has seen several malaria epidemics, reducing the population to less than 1,000 in the 18th century! The installation of drainage systems and forestation projects made the region habitable again. Today, tourism is an important economic sector, as almost everywhere in Tuscany. But we've been told the wine is pretty good as well... Maybe after the race.
The riders will then take the highway, partly alongside the coast, for the first few kilometers. They will tackle a first hill, whereof the top lies somewhere between Betralla and Capranica, and then continue their journey in the vulcanic and hence hilly area. They will as well compete for sprint points in Monterosi, after 141.7km.
We will head further South, where the riders will tackle the only categorized climb of the day, up to Monterotondo (round mountain). The top will be reached after 181.2 kilometers, from where we could look down on Rome, which is just a few kilometers south-west. We'll however not enter the Eternal City, but rather turn eastwards - to finally really enter the hills.
The climb up to Palestrina marks the start of the hilly finale, containing roughly the last 40 kilometers, as we head to the Monti Ernici. After a climb up to Piglio and a short descent, the riders will finally tackle the last hill up to Fiuggi. The city is known for its hot springs - I know some people who will be very keen on trying them out after this hard stage! The medieval city center - always worth a sight as well - will probably be of less interest to them.
Well, what does it take to succeed up here in Fiuggi? Looking at the last four stages, it seems like being member of a breakaway is a prerequisite - so imagine some hard fights to get into today's select breakaway group! But that won't be sufficent; you need to be a good puncheur as well to do all these climbs well. And you'll definitely need a great stamina, to still be fresh enough to fight for the win after more than 250 kilometers and over 2,000 meters of total elevation gain.
So, who do the bookmakers see on top topday? Hills and stamina - there is one rider who combines these two perfectly well, and this is McCarthy. But if pure climbing skill come into play as well, there's probably no way past Spilak (what we already thought on stage 4, though...). Izagirre is among the top puncheurs, too, and so he gets 3 stars as well.
Boswell, once more Demare and Vakoc are next on their list, with Bystrom, Taaramäe, Talansky and Van Niekerk completing the Top 10. Of all these riders, the three mentioned last are currently best positioned in the GC, with Spilak hoping to make good some ground today!
The officials, the riders, the motorcycles with their cameramen are ready - let's just hope the weather will keep up, too! There are more and darker clouds than on some other days - fingers crossed the riders won't get soaked!
After two days without an Italian winner, Vendrame decides it's time to change this again. He's today's first attacker - with more than 250km still to go.
Naud is just as courageous, as he follows the Volvo rider a little later.
Fedeli took a day off inside the pack yesterday, but now he's back to work. He pulls Grossschartner with him.
Greek champion Kastrantas wants to try out something new as well, after having done a lot of work in the pack lately. He's joined by Bugge.
Gillett didn't react quickly enough to take the Norwegian's wheel, but he's slowly catching up now.
But just 7 men ahead on the longest stage is a bit mingy - at least that's what Schönberger, Serrano, Gabburo and Boom must be thinking. Serrano made that totally failed breakaway attempt yesterday, let's hope today's works out better!
Well, at least there's no opposition from the peloton yet. Garcia Cortina is calmly leading the pack, not worrying too much about the riders up front.
Castrillo, Contreras, Van der Kooij, Van Winden, Cullaigh, Afewerki, Dillier and Zhao are participating in the "chase".
After 25 kilometers, we seem to have found our Breakaway of the Day, as all escapees have now gathered. With the gap to the pack almost at three minutes, we can be pretty sure that these 11 men will accompany us all day long - or until they're finally reeled in.
Without any surprise, all of them are decent to good puncheurs, with Schönberger being the strongest of them on paper. However, he doesn't like the flat parts that much - he might suffer quite a lot during most of the stage.
Kastrantas, Grossschartner, Serrano and Bugge almost match Schönberger on the hills, with the Greek however being much stronger on the flat. Bugge is the group's best climber- not by much, though.
Naud and stage 3 winner Gabburo then are the strongest on the flat, with the latter being the fastest sprinter as well. Vendrame can almost keep up with his compatriot, though - he just needs to hope that pure climbing skills won't come into play.
Boom is a rather well-balanced rider as well, but definitely lacking the top speed if it comes down to a sprint - and maybe his stamina is a little low for such a long stage. Gillett is pretty good on hills and longer climbs, too, but flat roads aren't his favorite terrains.
And then, there's - once again - Fedeli, who basically only likes hills. But he deserves that special mention, making this his 5th breakaway appearance in 6 days (not counting the team time trial on stage one, of course)! The success so far has been moderate, though...
GC-wise, we have Boom sitting in 8th place so far, with Gabburo just 3 places behind. Both are trailing Malecki by over 12 minutes, though - but on 250km, you can build up quite a time gap! Let's see how much - and if they really get through. It would be the 5th breakaway win in a row!
At the moment, the peloton isn't too afraid, though. Madouas - once again - is setting a steady pace, so the gap doesn't increase too much. We're at 5 minutes now, with the first 60 kilometers already covered.
Oops, that's not good! Stage favorite Bystrom punctures after 80km, just before the peloton reaches a first (very) small hill. No teammates there to help him, let's hope he makes it back without wasting too much energy!
He does, just 5 kilometers later. Hopefully, there won't be any more punctures - or at least not in critical moments!
Looking a bit closer at the breakaway actually reveals us a weird team strategy from Grieg-Maersk. While Gabburo and Bugge do an absolutely legitimate share of the workload - the former working, the latter just following - none of the three Grieg-Maersk riders actually do any work at all! Even worse, they' don't even ride in the other escapees' slipstream, but out in the wind...
Let's see for how long the others will tolerate such a behavior - usually you do most of the work when you're superior to the rest in terms of numbers, right? Let's see how this unfolds...
It actually already seems to have an effect, with the others no longer riding full gas - and the peloton already approaching by half a minute.
We then have another puncture, and this time it's Sergis. Fortunately, his team car isn't far away, so he can quickly get his wheel changed. He should make it back soon.
Well, has someone dropped pins on the road? Goss stops with a flat tire only little later - with Sergis flying past him to reach the back of the pack. Let's have a talk with the mechanics tonight...
The breakaway now enters the first longer climb, which isn't too steep, though. We still have the same picture, with Serrano, Grossschartner and Gillett refusing to take a single turn! So does Bugge, but Gabburo is working instead, so that's fine.
But they're clearly no longer advancing at full speed, as the gap has shrunk below 4 minutes by now! The first 110km are over, 142km still to cover!
Well, we must also mention that Nych has joined the chase back here, and we've seen yesterday what that means... By the way, both Goss and Sergis have made their way back in the meantime.
And the next one... this time, it's Hofstede who has to wait for his team car to show up. He'll make it back easily as well, though - but spending precious energy just because of a flat tire is surely annoying.
Just as yesterday, there's no fight for the points. Boom happens to cross the line first.
Nych looks pretty determined as he crosses this line. Well, maybe he's just a bit annoyed by the rainfall that has just started...
The pack is still 3'36" behind the breakaway, so not much has changed within the last few kilometers. 110 kilometers to go, meaning we're now in the second half of the race!
And Hofstede has just made the catch, by the way.
As there's not much happening on the next few kilometers as well - except for the peloton closing in by another 30 seconds - let's already take a look at today's sole categorized climb. Sure, there are plenty of hills, but for whatever reason the officials have decided that only the short ascent to Monterotondo deserves a category 4 sprint.
We guess it's because of that steep section starting after about 1,200 and lasting for about a kilometer. The total length isn't anything to be afraid of, that's for sure. But maybe after 180km it's still going to hurt...
Already on the lower slopes, Kastrantas decides to go solo. Fedeli leading the chase may not be the best choice for the group, though...
And indeed, Fedeli can't follow the Greek champion, and so Kastrantas easily takes the 5 points up here.
The fight for 2nd is much closer, and Vendrame comes dangerously close to Naud - but the Canadian finally has the edge. Meaning we've got the following order:
As none of these riders previously had any points, this sprint doesn't change much in the KoM standings. Malecki and Budenieks will prolong their joint lead for at least one more day.
Van der Kooij - not exactly a puncheur - leads the pack up this hill, thereby losing 30 seconds on the breakaway. As soon as the road flattens out, he re-starts the "real" chase, though. 3'33" is the current gap, with 70 kilometers to go.
Although it wasn't a really hard hill, 7 riders have lost contact - and they won't close that gap until the end. Haugard, Gamper, Clarke, Van Zandbeek, Wolf, Kosic and Dewulf are their names, with none of them being an important helper or even a stage favorite.
With 50 kilometer to go, the peloton's deficit has dropped to two minutes, with the main difficulties yet to come. Madouas, Garcia Cortina, Cullaigh, Nych, Contreras, Van der Kooij, Mullen, Sendeku and Barthe seem to have everything under control - it's a strong Polar presence up front, Izagirre must have really strong legs today!
Now, that's a big surprise! Serrano hasn't done any work in the breakaway all day long, but he's still the first who has to let go! The only plausible explanation could be that yesterday's failed attempt cost him so many forces that he's just empty now.
A little later, he's already reeled in by Madouas! It's not that the peloton is so fast - the gap is still two minutes - but the Spaniard just seems to have absolutely nothing left!
What is going on here? Grossschartner is the next to lose contact with the front group! Fedeli seems to be on the ropes as well, but he's hanging on for the moment.
The pack hasn't come significantly closer, just a few seconds.
Serrano has already been distanced by the pack, and is about to be overtaken by Covi, who couldn't keep up with the peloton anymore earlier - an absolutely underwhelming performance by Serrano!
But not just by him - by the whole team, actually! Grieg-Maersk played it out really well to have three riders in the breakaway - and now they are all gone! Gillett is the last to be dropped by the escapees - what did they actually have for breakfast? None of them did any work up front - and now they're completely empty?
Well, they were actually riding side-by-side all day long, meaning at most one of them was really protected from the wind - could that have broken them? That would be the worst team strategy ever! Emergency meeting scheduled tonight, that's for sure!
Finally, just as they reach another hilltop, the presumed weakest rider of the group has to let go as well, as Fedeli loses contact.
Grossschartner and Gillett have already been caught by the pack, by the way. And the said pack is again trailing the leading group by more than two and a half minutes!
Yes, it's him. Serrano has just been left behind by the group of 7 mentioned earlier, and is now dead last in this race. I can't find any words to describe this performance. But it's not a good one.
Now the Nych express has been unleashed, bringing down the gap below two minutes in almost no time. And picking up Fedeli along the way.
But it definitely was time for the pack to wake up, as the breakaway riders have already reached the final 20 kilometers! Still two hills to tackle, though, meaning that 1'43" isn't a really big margin - but the pack still needs to hurry up to catch them!
How often have we already said that, actually? And how often has it worked? They need to do better today!
Now the escapees are about to attack the first of these two hills, but the pack can already see them. Still, we have a gap of 1'35" - it's decreasing, but pretty slowly!
This attack definitely was to be expected! Bugge let his teammate Gabburo do the work all day long, and just as the road starts to incline, the Norwegian attacks! Boom is on his wheel, and Kastrantas tries to follow as well.
Gabburo has built a perfect launch pad for his teammate, but now is completely done. He can't hang on any more, meaning we have six riders left up front, in two groups of three:
Bugge
Boom
Kastrantas
+ 28"
Naud
Vendrame
Schönberger
+ 43"
Gabburo
+ 1'09"
Peloton
Just as Gabburo is reeled in by Vermeltfoort, Kastrantas can't keep up with Bugge and Boom any longer! The front duo is again 1'23" ahead of the pack!
And it's no longer a front duo with 13km to go, as Bugge simply rides away! However, Kastrantas has caught up with Boom, so maybe they can reduce that gap together?
Back in the peloton, we see that Vermeltfoort is still leading - although he is completeley empty, and all the remaining escapees are riding faster than him! Why doesn't anyone take over? Hey, there's a GT stage win at stake, maybe someone should take some risk to get it?!?
Bugge doesn't care at all - on the contrary, if he knew, he'd be absolutely delighted by the peloton's strategy...
With 10 kilometers to go - and only the final ascent remaining - he leads 24" ahead of Kastrantas and Boom.
Schönberger, Vendrame and Naud trail by 50", whereas the pack now is already 1'50" behind!
And here's the profile of that final climb. It's 5 kilometers long - but with less than 5% of average slope!
However, the finish line isn't on the hilltop; there will be 2.2km to go from there, slightly descending. So whoever arrives first on top should still have great chances of winning this stageè
It looks more and more as if the first on top will be Bugge! Kastrantas and Boom are trying hard, but they don't really come any closer, and neither are the next chasers.
In the pack, Kneisky has finally taken over from Vermeltfoort - but the Frenchman isn't exactly the right man to gain some seconds on a downhill or on the climb!
It's then Barthe who leads the peloton on this climb, finally catching Naud, Vendrame and Schönberger.
However, Bugge is already under the 5km banner, meaning he's got 2.8km of climbing left. And he's still 1'06" ahead!
Boom is now struggling to keep up with Kastrantas, who seems to be riding away from the Dutchman. But the pack is now definitely moving faster than those up front!
Well, forget what I just wrote. Actually, Barthe is completely empty now as well - but the others still let him lead the pack, no-one seems to be interested in taking over or even launching an attack!
Bugge doesn't care at all; he is still 1'17" ahead of the pack, and just needs to do 1.5km of climbing now!
Kastrantas trails by 29", with Boom another 27" behind.
Now they're finally moving, with Castrillo having taken the lead! Um... Castrillo? Sure... There are so many Aker - MOT jerseys in the first positions now, but they send their weakest puncheur up front to close the gap. It's really the day of the weird strategies, I tell you!
By the way, Bugge has only 300 meters of climbing left, and he's now 1'20" ahead of the pack! 1'20", 2.5km - that can't go wrong, can it?
Bugge has just reached the highest point of today's stage - now it's 2.2km of slight downhill for him! Still 1'12" on the pack - that should be enough!
Kastrantas is still riding in 2nd position - but he isn't really able to close the gap. Maybe it's just the forces he spent on the KoM sprint that are missing now?
With 200m of uphill left for the peloton, Rybalkin is now leading the chase with Kritskiy on his wheel!
We can see Taaramäe, Haig, Amador, Carapaz, Reis, Spilak and Barguil pretty well positioned, too - with Demare some more positions behind. Will he again miss out on what could have been an easy win for him?
Fiamma Rossa for Bugge! Just 1km of downhill to go for the Norwegian - can he hold on to secure his first ever GT stage win, and the second one for his team in this Giro?
Meanwhile, Kastrantas has left the hilltop behind as well, so it's only dowhnill for him now to secure a GT stage podium!
But the pack has definitely picked up the pace, with Kritskiy having moved to the front now. Bayly is leading out Haig, alongside whom we see Taaramäe. And we have a total of five Aker - MOT riders in the first ten positions right now!
Carapaz, Spilak, Reis, Faglum Karlsson, Talansky, Barguil and Demare are a little further behind. 1.8km of downhill for the pack now!
And we have to mention it, the pure puncheurs such as McCarthy or Izagirre don't have any chance at all - the final hills were way too easy for them to try an attack. The finale looked much more difficult on paper than it actually was...
700m to go for Bugge, whereas Kastrantas has reached the red kite as well! 1st and 2nd really seem to be safe now - but who will get the final spot on the podium?
Bayly is leading the pack onto the final 1,000 meters, whereas Bugge is within 300m of the finish line!
However, Kastrantas seems to have slowed down somewhat - could his 2nd place still be in danger?
Already with 200 to go, Vegard Robinson Bugge can celebrate a great win! For the fifth time in a row, the peloton isn't smart enough to reel in the breakaway in time, and today it's the Norwegian of team Isostar - Specialized who seizes this great opportunity!
He had a teammate working for him for most of the day - and logically, he was the one having most left in the tank on the closing kilometers. Congratulations!
Behind, Kastrantas is still fighting for 2nd, with the peloton now dangerously closing in. Can the Greek champion fend them off?
For the moment, it looks so! But beware of Demare, who has finally launched his sprint from very far away, and is already about to overtake Reis! He's by far the fastest man on the road now - where does his sprint take him?
For now, Bayly is still leading the pack, with Haig apparently being unable to overtake him!
Oh, that was quick! Within just a few meters, Demare has gained a lot of positions and is about to take the lead in the pack!
Bugge, who already celebrated his win, is about to cross the finish line, whereas Kastrantas has to give it all he's left to secure this second place!
But well, there seems to be no way to fend off this TGV called Demare! At least it's really looking like he's going to catch Kastrantas - but maybe the Greek has still a final push left in him?
Indeed, Arnaud Demare couldn't be stopped by Kastrantas, as the Frenchman wins the sprint from the bunch for the second time this Giro - but again, it's not enough for the stage win! Once again, his team worked hard all day long - but obviously not hard enough...
Kastrantas is looking like he's already hanging his head - but hey, you could still claim 3rd place! But then you need to push, or else Bayly or Girdlestone are going to fly past you!
It wasn't to be for Charalampas Kastrantas, who has to settle for the "wooden medal", as they say here in Italy. He is edged out on the closing meters by Cameron Bayly, who gets a stunning 3rd place on this stage, being the second strongest of the pack!
Keagan Girdlestone gets a nice result as well, sprinting to 5th.
Jack Haig definitely makes it a good day for Bennelong - Mitchelton, outsprinting Jaime Castrillo for 7th. Yes, super puncheur Castrillo...
The remaining Top 10 spots then all go to the same team: Rein Taaramäe, Andreas Vangstad and Takeaki Amezawa. Four Top 10 places for Aker - MOT - on one hand, that's a great team result, on the other hand, maybe an attack could have been worth more...
We then have a really close call for 11th - and this sprint is won by - yes, absolutely - Ingus Eislers, who pips Kazushige Kuboki to the line.
At least, we then have some more expected names completing the Top 20:
13. Timofey Kritskiy
14. Simon Spilak
15. Kristaps Budenieks
16. Dayer Quintana
17. Hsuan Ping Hsu
18. Alex Kirsch
19. Warren Barguil
20. Andrei Amador
All in all, it was a pretty crazy race, and hence we have a rather crazy result as well. And so, you probably won't even find it crazy when I tell you that Ji again lost some time, finishing alongside stage favorite Bystrom (+ 2'04"). Or that Gillett (+ 26'26"), Grossschartner (+ 29'57") and Serrano (+ 35'25"), who all were part of the breakaway, finish this stage on the last three places. Crazy.
But well, let's not get too much into that craziness, but simply cheer today's winners - and new leaders? Let's take a look at the victory ceremony!
And here is Vegard Robinson Bugge! He finished off a great teamwork by Isostar - Specialized in the best possible way, clearly benefitting from the pack's lack of pacemakers - but who cares? He won't!
However, Arnaud Demare clearly will. What could have been his second stage win already, had the peloton been a bit smarter, ends in another frustrating experience for him. Sure, 2nd place would be a great result for many a rider - but not for him, not with how the stage unfolded. But he'll try again - and at least, he gets some kind of a reward for his good sprinting, as we'll see later.
Cameron Bayly completes today's podium, as he was the second strongest rider from the pack! Something he surely wouldn't have believed pre-stage, but so it is!
And here is our old and new Maglia Rosa, Kamil Malecki! In the end, he was just able to hang on to the peloton - hence not only losing no time (except on the stage winner), but even gaining 1'02" on Cyril Barthe, who lost contact on the final kilometers! Hence, the Pole now leads 4'50" ahead of his closest rival.
In 3rd place, we still have Kristaps Budenieks, 9'10" behind.
In the Top 10, we have Bizkarra and Mager switching places, as well as Boom and Nych. Sendeku and Gabburo both lost some time, meaning we now have Haig and Kritskiy in 9th and 10th. Let's see how that changes tomorrow!
The U25 standings are still identical to the GC in the first three positions - and the KoM standings haven't changed compared to yesterday, either. Kamil Malecki and Kristaps Budenieks still share the lead with 26 points each, 8 points ahead of Mikel Bizkarra.
You have probably understood the hint when we talked about a reward for Arnaud Demare's consistent sprint performances - as he takes over the Maglia Ciclamino today! He now has a total of 82 points, which is 10 points more than Kamil Malecki. Artem Nych drops to 3rd, totalling 66 points.
And finally, we have a change of leader in the team standings! Polar worked so hard today - in vain, with Izagirre only taking 44th place - so that too many riders dropped out of the first group in the end.
Gazelle take over the lead, 40" ahead of the Finns, and 7'14" ahead of cycleYorkshire, who didn't have the best of days, either.
And that's it from the longest stage of the 2020 Giro d'Italia - and from the first week! We have seen an abnormal first week, that's for sure, as we had 5 breakaway wins in 7 days! We saw one of the big GC favorites lose four minutes on a relatively easy stage. So what awaits us in the second week? We'll find out soon, starting with the second mountain top finish of the race! See you then!
Giro d'Italia 
