A bruised and battered Giro d’Italia peloton rolled out of Frosinone for the 211km (131.1mi) Stage Seven to Foligno. While the run-in to the finish is flat, and the last chance for the sprinters to show their finishing kick for several days, the stage was hilly earlier on, enough to make an early break a certainty.

Cannondale Pro Cycling has Elia Viviani in the Red Jersey as he is the points leader and he’s sprinting well, so they’re happy to let a break go so they can save their efforts for the final hour of racing. As team captain Ivan Basso is in tenth place and wanting an easy day before the mountain stages begin tomorrow [today], the team also wants to conserve their energy to protect him as well.

Five riders rode away on the Valico di Arcinazzo, the first big hill of the day and collaborated well, growing their gap to nine minutes. And then it started to come down. Race leader Michael Matthews is a sprinter and his Orica-Greenedge team would love him to win another stage before the mountains begin, so they led the chase with little help until the finish got much closer.

When they got close to the intermediate sprint, the field picked up the pace, Cannondale went to the front, and Viviani led the field across the line at the intermediate sprint in Rieti, gaining six points.

As the field reached the final hills of the day, and the gap was down to around four minutes, Cannondale started to chase. There was less than two hours of racing remaining, and they added a few riders to Orica’s effort to set tempo. And after the final climb was crested with a little less than 40km (24.9mi) to go, Cannondale was joined by Giant-Shimano, Trek, and FDJ, all working for their sprinters.

But the breakaway didn’t give up. As the field got closer, the break rode harder. When the gap was down to 30 seconds, the break started attacking one another, but not shedding anyone, which kept them away longer. The efforts kept them in the lead until 2.8km (1.7mi) remaining.

The final few kilometers were in the town of Foligno, and the course narrowed, throwing in a bunch of turns. This made positioning tricky, and both the FDJ and Giant-Shimano teams were battling for supremacy. Viviani was down to one gregario to pilot him into position for the final bend, who was moving up on the left side

Going into the final 500 meters (.31mi), Giant-Shimano was still in control for their sprinter Luka Mezgec, but Matthews was waiting on the left, while Viviani was just behind. As they came out of the last turn, with a little more than 150 meters (.1mi) left, Viviani was behind Matthews. Matthews was able to move up, while Viviani got stuck in traffic and FDJ’s Nacer Bouhanni squeezed through on the right side along the barriers for a close victory over Trek’s Giacomo Nizzolo. Bouhanni’s victory moved him into the lead of the points competition, taking the Red Jersey off the back of Viviani.

Viviani came in tenth and was disappointed with the result.

“I lost a big chance. My team worked hard to create the possibility of a sprint finish. They pushed hard to catch the break because the gap didn’t decrease as quickly as we expected. The finale was very technical, with small roads and lots of turns. I was not in the right position in the right moment, so I had no chance to recover positions and to launch the sprint. I’ve lost the Red Jersey, but I want to look after for the next chance, both for the win and the jersey.”

Vivani dropped to third in the race for the Red Jersey. He has 139 points to Bouhanni’s 166 and Nizzolo’s 150.

Tomorrow’s stage, 179km (111.2mi) from Foligno to Montecopiolo, is when the next phase of the Giro begins. It’s a mountain stage, with three mountain climbs in the final sixty kilometers and finishing atop a first-category climbs. The stage should be fast from the start, as every favorite, and his team, will be loath to give his rival any quarter. There’s an intermediate sprint in Urbana 105km (65.2mi) into the day, and a chance for Viviani to pick up points, but most of the team will be focused on protecting Basso and putting him in a position to either attack or follow attacks on those final climbs.