The Italian Davide Bais has won the first test of strength of the 106th Giro d'Italia.
On the steep final climb up the snow-covered Gran Sasso massif at 2130 metres, the 25-year-old professional cyclist came out on top on Friday ahead of Czech rider Karel Vacek and compatriot Simone Petilli on the seventh stage. The best German was Lennard Kämna from the Bora-hansgrohe team, but he did not make it into the top 10, while the Norwegian Andreas Leknessund defended the overall leader's pink jersey.
The three-man breakaway group around Bais built up a lead of more than seven minutes on the peloton. The Italian winner of the day also took the blue jersey in the mountain classification. In the duel between the favourites, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic was unable to close the gap to young star Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian finished the mountain stage in fourth place ahead of Roglic (5th).
Longest and most challenging route of the tour
On the seventh day of the Grand Tour, the pros set off on the longest and most demanding stage of the Tour of Italy to date, covering 218 kilometres between Capua and the Gran Sasso massif in Abruzzo.
Two pros had to withdraw before the race: Giovanni Aleotti from the Bora team did not start due to a positive corona test. Fellow countryman Nicola Conci from Team Alpecin-Deceuninck also had to withdraw from the Giro due to an infection.
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