Giro d'Italia: Bais triumphs at the mountain finish - Kämna improves in the classification
Thomas Goldmann
· 12.05.2023
The breakaways struck again on stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia 2023 after already on the 4th section an escape group came through. Davide Bais from Eolo-Kometa made his team bosses Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso cheer at over 2100 metres altitude at the mountain finish on the Gran Sasso d'Italia. The 25-year-old won ahead of Karel Vacek (Team Corratec - Selle Italia) and Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty).
Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia 2023: Winner inspired by Fortunato
"Finally my first professional win. I've had to wait a long time for this. I joined the group to help the team. The inspiration came from Lorenzo Fortunato, who had already won a Giro stage for the team on Monte Zoncolan. In the finale I knew that I was the fastest and I think I organised it very well," said the stage winner.
Around three minutes behind, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) led the group of favourites to the finish, where there were almost no attacks. The pink jersey remains with Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM). Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) moved into the top 10 and is ninth, 1:54 minutes behind. The 26-year-old reached the finish in the group with Evenepoel.
The top 10 of the stage
- Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa) 6:08:40
- Karel Vacek (Team Corratec - Selle Italia) +0:09
- Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:16
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +3:10
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +3:10
- Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +3:10
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +3:10
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +3:10
- Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco-AlUla) +3:10
- Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +3:10
How the 7th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023 went
After the start of stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia 2023, four riders broke away from the peloton: Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa), Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Henok Mulubrhan (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) and Karel Vacek (Team Corratec - Selle Italia). The peloton showed little interest in seriously chasing the escapees and their lead grew to well over ten minutes. Around 120 kilometres before the finish, Mulubrhan had to let his three breakaway colleagues go before the mountain classification in Roccaraso.
On the final climb to the Gran Sasso d'Italia, Vacek initially had problems in the leading group around 3.5 kilometres before the finish, but fought his way back up. The decision was finally made in the sprint of the group of three. Petilli attacked around 250 metres before the finish of stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia 2023 and was countered by Bais. No one was able to counter the Eolo Cometa pro's attack. Behind him, Vacek overtook Petilli and crossed the finish line in second place.
The classification riders only got serious in the final kilometre. Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco-AlUla) picked up the pace about 200 metres before the finish, Remco Evenepoel used this as a launch pad to start his sprint and reach the finish in fourth place with the rest of his rivals in tow.
