André Greipel continued the fantastic Giro d’Italia for Germany and Lotto Soudal by making it three in a row for the Belgian team as he came out on top in the bunch sprint on stage 7. Seemingly boxed in, he found a gap in the hectic bunch sprint and then came around Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and held off runner-up Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) to take his second win of the race. Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) finished safely in the bunch and retained the lead.

 

Going into the Giro d’Italia, Lotto Soudal were aiming for success in the Dutch stages but nothing worked for the Belgian team in the hectic finishes in their neighbouring country. The team headed to Italy with no success and things didn’t go well in stage 4 either as Tim Wellens missed a big chance when Diego Ulissi dropped him on the final climb.

 

However, since then the team has been unstoppable and has had a fantastic first week, just like they had at last year’s Tour de France. André Greipel opened the account with an impressive sprint win on Wednesday and yesterday Wellens proved that the team can also do well in harder terrain as the Belgian made it two in a row.

 

Yesterday Wellens made it clear that they were now aiming for hat-trick with Greipel in today’s sprint stage but it was always going to be tricky for the big German to win in Foligno. A technical finale would be a challenge for Greipel who is not known for his positioning skills.

 

However, thing always come easier when you are on a roll and Greipel confirmed that by completing the hat-trick in impressive fashion. He may not have been as superior as he was two days ago but again he benefited from excellent teamwork to keep the Belgian streak alive.

 

After a strong solo move by Stefan Küng (BMC) was neutralized with 7km to go, it was clear that it would all come down to a bunch sprint despite a frantic start to the stage that had seen the peloton split to pieces on the first climb. On the final climb with 40km to go, Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) had again been dropped but all the sprinters were back in the peloton when things came back together.

 

IAM and Tinkoff had done the final work to bring Küng back and this is when Lotto Soudal showed their intentions.  Adam Hansen hit the front and set a fast pace until only 5km remained.

 

Kittel had dug deep to get back after his problems on the earlier climb but it turned out to be in vain as he had a very untimely mechanical just as they passed the 5km to go banner. He changed his bike but was completely out of the battle for the stage win, with Etixx-QuickStep shifting their focus to Matteo Trentin.

 

Matthias Brändle gave Hansen a small break but the Australian was back in charge with 4km to go. Sean De Bie took over, followed by Jurgen Roelandts and Greipel, while Giacomo Nizzolo had won the battle for the German’s wheel.

 

Roberto Ferrari tried to push Sacha Modolo into that position but the Lampre-Merida sprinter had to slot into fifth behind the Trek rider. At the same time, Jos Van Emden sprinted to the front for LottoNL-Jumbo and this forced Roelandts to hit out early to maintain the first positions.

 

The Belgian won the battle and then allowed Matej Mohoric (Lampre-Merida) to take the lead as they went through the final technical turns at the flamme rouge. However, when the Slovenian swung off, he had to do the lead-out too early and this meant that they were swamped when Orica-GreenEDGE surged forward with Luka Mezgec and Caleb Ewan.

 

Nizzolo was quick to move into the position behind the Australian who was given the perfect lead-out while Greipel suddenly seemed to be boxed in. However, he was lucky that Modolo found a gap and started his effort early as it allowed him to get back to the front by following the Italian.

 

Ewan started the sprint and went head to head with Modolo but Greipel passed them as soon as he launched his effort. He briefly boxed Nizzolo in and this cost the Italian the momentum. Nizzolo finished fast but could only pass Modolo to take second place behind the German. Modolo was third while Ewan drifted to fourth.

 

Tom Dumoulin finished safely in the bunch and so retained his 26-second advantage over Jakob Fuglsang (Astana). He faces a much sterner test in tomorrow’s stage 8 which sees the peloton return to the Tuscan gravel roads for the first time since 2011. The first part of the stage is largely flat, with just a single category 3 climb at the midpoint, but the stage has a nasty sting in its tail as the riders will face an 8.6km that averages 6.5% and includes a long gravel section. The top comes with 18.4km to go and they are mostly downhill, meaning that we can expect another battle between the GC riders.

 

A lumpy stage

After yesterday’s summit finish, the riders were back in flatter terrain for stage 7 which brought them over 221km from Sulmona to Foligno. There was an early category 2 climb after just 20km of racing and from there it was rolling terrain for most of the day. The final challenge was a category 4 climb (6.9km, 4.7) whose summit was located just 40.2km from the finish and from there it was a downhill and flat run to the technical finale.

 

IAM had lost two riders at the start, as Matteo Pelucchi finished outside the time limit yesterday while Larry Warbasse has suffered from back problems in recent days and thus left the race. The rest of the field got a quiet start in the dry but cloudy conditions as Patrick Gretsch (AG2R - La Mondiale), Stefan Kung (BMC Racing), Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) and Cristian Rodriguez (Wilier-Southeast) attacked right from the start while the peloton initially had a relaxed approach.

 

Nippo-Vini Fantini go for the KOM points

Rodriguez was dropped by his three companions and was quickly caught by the peloton after just 8km of racing. At that point, the lead had grown to 1.23, but like two days ago Nippo-Vini Fantini eyed the early KOM points. Therefore they chased hard, and so the gap lead was down to one minute at the bottom of the first climb.

 

The gap grew to 1.27 despite the hard pace which sent many riders out the back door. The balance tipped, however, and when the gap was down to just 30 seconds, Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and five other riders tried to bridge across. They didn’t make it in time though as Küng beat McCarthy and Gretsch in the KOM sprint. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) beat Cunego and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) in the battle for fourth place.

 

The peloton splits

The chase group was picked up by the 35-rider first group which was nowonly eight seconds behind the leaders while the third group had lost all 1.12. After 31km, the second group was 40 seconds behind while the third group was still 1.20 behind Tom Dumoulin's group. Moments later, the break was caught.

 

In the pouring rain, the first group didn’t wait and therefore the gap to the second group went out to a minute after the first hour during which the average speed was 38.2km/h. One reason for the rapid pace was the many attacks, and when the two rear groups merged, the gap had even gone out to no less than 2.19.

 

Six riders get clear

Küng refused to give up and attacked in a solo move that quickly gave him 25 seconds of advantage. After 51km, he was 1:08 ahead of the fiel but nonetheless Axel Domont (AG2R - La Mondiale), Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF), Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling), Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida) and Daniel Martinez (Wilier- South East) tried to bridge the gap. The move succeeded, and while the peloton finally took a breather, the gap went out to 2 minutes at the 61km mark.

 

Ciccone beat Denifl, Küng, Domont, Koshevoy and Martinez in the first intermediate sprint, and as the two pelotons had again merged, Elia Viviani (Sky) could beat Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) in the battle for 7th place 2.20 later. However, the peloton was not allowing them the break to get much leeway and thus the gap stabilized between the 2- and 3-minute gaps after the second hour during which the average speed had grown to 38.4km/h.

 

FDJ and Lotto Soudal take control

The gap started to grow and reached 3.30 while Giant-Alpecin set a steady pace. However, as they entered the final 100km, Lotto Soudal came to the fore to start the chase and very soon FDJ joined them.

 

Jelle Vanendert, Pim Ligthart (Lotto Soudal), Marc Sarreau and Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) did the early work to keep the gap between 3.00 and 3.30. With 80km to go, the gap dropped to less than 3 minutes for the first time in what was a very fast phase of the race

 

Bad crash for Moreno

A bad solo crash ended the race for Javier Moreno (Movistar) who was taken away in an ambulance but that didn’t stop the peloton which slowly started to reel the break in after the gap had been stable around 2.45 for a while. As they entered the final 60km, it was down to just 2.05.

 

Vanendert, Ligthart, Sarreau and Courteille emptied themselves and so the gap had been reduced to 1.30 as they passed the 50km to go banner. That was the signal for Dimension Data to join forces with FDJ and Lotto Soudal as Songezo Jim hit the front for the South African team.

 

Cunego goes for the KOM points

The escapees hit the final climb with an advantage of 1.30 and while Jim swung off, Jack Bobridge started to work for Trek. Meanwhile, the Nippo Vini-Fantini pair of Giacomo Berlato and Damiano Cunego attacked as the latter had to score points in the KOM sprint to defend his mountains jersey.

 

While Cunego left Berlato behind and reduced the gap to 40 seconds one kilometre from the top, Dimension Data dropped the hammer on the climb, clearly putting Marcel Kittel, Elia Viviani and Nicola Ruffoni in difficulty.

 

Kittel is dropped

Cunego didn’t make it in time as Martinez and Ciccone sprinted for the KOM points, with the Colombian coming out on top. Domont rolled across the line in third while Cunego crested the summit 43 seconds too late.

 

In the peloton, it was now Trek doing the damage as Fabian Cancellara showed signs of progress by riding hard on the front. The effort paid off as Kittel and Viviani were dropped and the pair found themselves in a small group with several Etixx-QuickStep riders 15 seconds behind the rear end of the peloton as they reached the top.

 

Küng takes off

While Cannondale hit the front in the peloton, Küng attacked from the breakaway. Cancellara also took more turns, reducing the gap to Küng to one minute with 33km to go. Ramunas Navarduaskas and Alberto Bettiol also did some long pulls and they quickly brought Cunego back.

 

When Küng won the final intermediate sprint with 30km to go, he was 50 seconds ahead of the peloton and 1.10 ahead of the Kittel group. Kittel’s teammate Matteo Trentin was the only rider to show any interest in the sprint and he moved ahead to pick up the points for seventh place.

 

Lotto Soudal and Cannondale in control

Of course Lotto Soudal had to try to keep Kittel at bay and so Tim Wellens hit the front for the Belgian team. Meanwhile, Domont was dropped from the chase group which was 25 seconds behind Küng with 25km to go.

 

The chasers decided to sit up and were brought back by Wellens, Navarduaskas and Bettiol who rode full gas. Nonetheless, Küng pushed the gap out to 50 seconds and the Kittel group again made contact.

 

The gap came down to 25 seconds with 20km to go but Küng managed to stabilize the situation. He benefited from a slowdown with 17km to go when Cannondale stopped their work and it was all the big teams that gathered their rains on the front.

 

Manuele Boaro was working hard for Tinkoff before Lotto Soudal moved up, led by Adam Hansen. Lampre-Merida took over and they had reduced the gap to just 10 seconds with 10km to go. IAM were next to take charge and brought Küng back just three kilometres later to set the scene for the bunch sprint.