Stage 7 wraps up Tirreno-Adriatico with a 198 ride from Martinsicuro to Prati di Tivo. The stage features 3 cat 1 climbs (although that is a very generous rating for the first one). A rider with zero points at the start of the stage could still take the KOM jersey. With two big climbs including a summit finish the profile was undoubtedly what made Herklotz comfortable letting nearly all his GC lead slip away yesterday. Morton and Dombrowski may have been thinking the same thing but they can’t afford just to follow the pace if they want to improve on 6th and 8th in the GC.
Those 3 are atop the favorites board:
5km gone and the attacks are coming fast, looks like there will be a strong break today as the front four are Aular, Warbasse, Vosekalns, and Sosnitskiy who are 16th, 19th, 20th and 21st on GC, respectively.
15km gone and the first four have been joined by 3 more strong riders, Sivakov (18th on GC), Higuita (22nd), Kolar (65th). The Xero rider has been all-action this race. The peloton, mostly led by Puma and King Power, has been shutting down additional attacks but currently Burke and Mannion are trying to get across.
30km gone, Puma and King Power still intent on net letting too big a break go. Burke has been brought back but Mannion has been joined by De la Cruz, Brozyna, Stancu and Giannoutsos. They have a 59 second lead and the front 7 are another 56 seconds ahead.
The chasers relent and with 160k to ride the two front groups come together except for Mannion. They lead by 3’04 with Mannion 44 seconds behind. Aular has two helpers now, he is looking to make up for his struggles yesterday. He is also the best placed on GC 8’33 down.
140k to go and the break reach the base of the first Cat 1. Mannion has joined them and they lead by 3’27. Vosekalns with 12 points is the best placed rider in the KOM competition.
1.5k to the top and Warbasse, Sivakov, and Higuita go clear. Behind Kolar is trying to join them.
Sivakov takes the points ahead of Warbasse and Higuita. Higuita now has the virtual KOM lead with 34 points. They have a decent gap over much of the break.
The break regroups on the descent and has a 5 minute lead with 120k to go. Most of the GC teams are represented at the front of the peloton.
100k to go, Farfetch setting the pace and the lead is 3’28. O'Shea has become the first man dropped from the peloton. The next 50k are bumpy but no categorized climbs then the two big Cat 1’s dominate the last 50k.
66km to go and the pack has split as Wouters, Enger, and Kemboi push the pace. The road flattens for a little bit now so it should reform. The break are 2’56 ahead.
Sosnitskiy has a small gap on his breakaway companions as he takes first at the sprint point.
As the break reaches the bottom of the penultimate climb, the Piano Roseto (14.7k at 6.3%), they are back in one group, as is the peloton which is 2’53 behind. A handful of sprinters have been permanently distanced by the peloton.
10km to the top for the peloton. Hamilton setting the pace. The lead is 2’30. The peloton is down to 89 riders with 27th placed Inkelaar the most notable victim. Up front Giannoutsos is the first rider dropped.
A few km later with 40k left in the race, all hell breaks loose. Up front Aular pushes the pace and the break immediately begins to come apart. More importantly in the peloton Dombrowski attacks.
7k to the top for the now 37-rider peloton. Dombrowski has a 52 second lead. Koshevoy has come to the front but mostly it is GC leaders and they have been looking at each other.
Up front Aular has reduced the group to 5 (Warbaasse, De la Cruz, Sosnitskiy, Sivakov). But they only have 44 seconds on Huski’s leader.
Highest placed rider out the back of the peloton is Smith (15th) he did a lot of work yesterday.
With 5k to climb for Dombrowski, his trails the leaders by 38 seconds and leads the pack by 1’12. Habtemichael now on the front. The peloton is down to 29 riders.
3.5k to go to the top for the chase group, Padun has been working but Olivier decides he can’t wait and attacks. They trail Dombrowski by 1’26 and the leaders by 1’48.
At first the whole group reacts but then the elastic breaks and a gap appears. Cattaneo holds the wheel briefly and then cracks leaving Olvier and Godoy ahead, they have 37 seconds on the favorites group.
Dombrowski reaches the front group just as Sivakov and Aular attack. 1.0 k to the top for them. Behind Olivier had dropped Godoy.
Aular drops the Russian and goes over first. Warbasse is dropped in the group behind. But Sivakov takes 12 points and is now on 28 points, just 6 points behind Higuita, who doesn’t look likely to score. The finish also has Cat 1 points.
The situation looks like this, Herklotz still safely in the race GC lead:
Also in the Herklotz group but not listed are Vosekalns, Novikov, O'Connor, Koshevoy, Habtemichael.
20km to go and the front group has reformed. The Herklotz group have caught Cattaneo and a few riders have rejoined swelling the group to 25. They trail the front of the race by 2’10. Warbasse (21 seconds), Olivier (49), and Godoy (1’18) in between.
15km to go for the front group, nobody interested in the sprint point. The lead is down to 1’52 as some of the GC riders help on the descent.
The leaders start the final climb, 14k at 7.5%, the first section is very tough as is the stretch from about 5 to 2k from the top. The lead is 1’48. The GC top 10 and the KOM competition very much in play.
Herklotz goes to the front as the chase group hits the climb, not clear how hard he is pushing yet.
13k to go and Berhane attacks. Herklotz just doing enough to keep the gap steady at the moment.
De la Cruz, Sosnitskiy, and Sivakov attack the lead group. Herklotz not chasing hard and gap to Dombrowski is 2’34. Berhane, Olivier, and Godoy are together 55 seconds behind the American.
10k to go for the Herklotz group. 22 riders left, the deficit to Dombrowski is now 3’52. The World Champion will have to respond soon. Up front Sosnitskiy has attacked and gone solo ahead of Sivakov while De la Cruz has dropped back to Dombrowski and Aular.
The full situation looks like this:
And the World Champion agrees with me – he attacks and quickly has a 24 second gap. Morton leads the chase. 9.1 k to the top for Herklotz.
7.0k to the top as Dombrowski pulls back the attackers. De la Cruz has been dropped. Behind Morton has pulled back Herklotz and the lead is 3’38. Herklotz had 3’49 over Dombrowski at the start of the day. The action has reduced the lead group to 12 riders, Karnulin, 13th on GC, is the biggest victim. The Olivier/Berhane/Godoy group at 1’47.
Herklotz attacks again, this time Morton tries to go with him.
The riders up front can see the whole race below them. Herklotz has reduced the gap to 2’24 and dropped Morton. Pluchkin is leading the main GC group where Cattaneo (9th) is the first top GC guy to be dropped. Padun (12th) also dropped but he did a lot of work earlier. 6k to go for the leaders.
Herklotz reaches the 5k banner and the other 3 GC attackers. Maybe this group can work together. De la Cruz just ahead. The lead is down to 1’23 but the Puma rider has been going hard. Morton 44 seconds behind him and then the Pluchkin group another 23 seconds behind.
3.8k and Sosnitskiy is dropped from the lead group. Behind Herklotz is hesitating and the lead is back to 1’47. Morton has reached them.
Roglic has been dropped from the Pluchkin group, his 2nd place is definitely at risk. The others still in that group are Guldhammer, Yates, Areruya, and Karnulin. Great recovery by the Gazelle rider which was previously unnoticed by the reporter.
Morton’s return triggers a new attack by Herklotz as the Pluchkin group closes in. Up front Sivakov has been dropped.
3.2k to go and Herklotz has Dombrowski in his sights, the gap is 57 seconds. Behind the Pluchkin and Morton groups have joined and are looking at each other. They trail Dombrowski by 1’57 which puts him in virtual 5th, Roglic has dropped from 2nd to 4th and isn’t far ahead of Dombrowski.
Morton takes responsibility for the chase and Areruya can’t hold the wheels anymore. Guldhammer has already gone. 3k to go, yesterday’s heroes have all been dropped and the podium spots are at risk. Karnulin also fading.
2.0k for the leaders, the gradients ease up at the end. The lead over Herklotz has stabilized at just over a minute. Sivakov is with Herklotz, he needs to finish 4th to win the KOM competition (assuming Herklotz doesn’t win the stage). All the other riders with significant points are out of it.
The full situation:
Godoy is the next rider dropped by the Morton group. Then Yates.
At the 1k banner Dombrowski has stretched the lead to 1’12, it looks like Aular, who has been glued to his wheel the whole climb, is the only one who can deny him a famous stage victory.
500 meters and they begin the sprint.
1k banner for Morton, he has the beating of the rest of the group. But he started the day a minute behind Pluchkin so he probably won’t make that up. He has a 2’42 lead on Roglic and needs 3’10, he may not gain any spots, but he will lose one to Dombrowki. Sivakov shot at the KOM jersey is also fading as this group catches him.
200 meters and Aular looks to go on the inside.
But he won’t catch him. An audacious attack with 40km to go nets Dombrowski a stage win. He will have to wait to see his GC gains. Aular with a brilliant rider as well, his team set him up to win for the break and came very close to pulling it off.
One rider Dombrowski won’t catch in the GC is Herklotz. He settles for 3rd today at 52 seconds but he will take the GC, and Points plus two stage wins which seems like a reasonable return. He managed this stage well in the end but there may be concerns about the lack of team support going into the Giro.
Morton finishes alone in 4th at 1’36, he proves he was the best of the rest but he will wonder if he should have gone with Dombrowski.
Sivakov holds off the rest of that group and secures 5th. That ties him for the KOM jersey with Higuita, a valiant ride and he showed toughness at the end to hold off the rest of the GC guys.
Pluchkin, Berhane, Olivier, and Sosnitskiy take 6th to 9th at 2’06
Yates and Godoy take 10th and 11th.
Then Areruya (12th) and Karnulin (13th). Their time is 3’19, that drops the Rwandan behind Dombrowski in the GC but he will stay ahead of the rest.
De la Cruz gets 14th then Guldhammer 15th. The Carlsberg rider loses 3’52 to Dombrowksi. He also drops behind Pluckin and Morton (by 1 second) into 7th.
Roglic 16th. He loses 4’46 to the winner but he didn’t lose silly time on Stage 3 so he had an extra minute in hand. Nevertheless he drops behind Dombrowski, Pluchkin and Areruya into 5th. Dombrowski’s attack will also net Huski 2nd in the GC. Areruya keeps his podium place because he gains the spot he lost to Dombrowski by passing Roglic. Pluchkin gains 1 spot to 4th. Morton ends the day where he started in 6th.
Padun, Novikov, Cattaneo, and Warbasse round out the top 20 on the stage.
Cattaneo one of the bigger losers on the day dropping from 9th to 13th. Aular up to 11th, Berhane up to 12th.
Areruya holds on to white and Popo4ever take the team jersey knocking Carlsberg into 2nd. 2 PCT teams take the top spots in the teams competition.
Tirreno-Adriatico 
