May 15/26 13:40 pm - Gee Moves into top 15 after Giro Stage 7

Posted by Editoress on 05/15/26
 

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) won today’s seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia, a 244-kilometer route between Formia and Blockhaus,. Vingegaard attacked 5.4 kilometres from the finish and took a solo victory in the first major summit finish of this year’s Giro. Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) struggled on the final climb, finishing15th at 2:55 back but retained the overall lead.

The Dane, a Giro debutant and the pre-race favorite, won with a time of 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 15 seconds, ahead of Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM), who finished second 13 seconds behind, and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora), who came in third at 1:02. Vingegaard with this win chieved his 49th professional victory and joined the select group of cyclists with stage wins in the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España.

The stage, with 4,467 metres of elevation gain, had its decisive point in the final 13.6 kilometers of the Blockhaus, with an average gradient of 8.4%. Vingegaard broke away from the group of favourites with a strong acceleration and set a time of 38:25 on the final climb, a new record for the ascent.

A breakaway opens the stage.

The stage began with attacks from the start. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was the first to attack and eventually formed a breakaway with Jardi Christiaan van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Nick Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5), Tim Naberman (Picnic-PostNL), and Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-Visit Malta).

The peloton allowed the gap to stretch to five minutes, with Bahrain-Victorious, Visma-Lease a Bike, and later Movistar controlling the peloton. At the intermediate sprint at Venafro, Milan crossed the line first ahead of Sevilla and Naberman, as the race moved into the mountains.

Sevilla was a key player on the second-category climb of Roccaraso, where he crested the summit first ahead of Zukowsky, Van der Lee, and Naberman. Milan, meanwhile, was dropped in Rionero Sannitico and was absorbed by the peloton before the decisive section.

The Blockhaus whittles down the race
The breakaway was already much reduced by the time it reached the foot of the Blockhaus. Naberman was caught 13 kilometres from the finish, and shortly after, Zukowsky and Van der Lee were also caught by a much reduced peloton.

Red Bull-Bora upped the pace on the early slopes of the final climb. Igor Arrieta, second in the general classification, was dropped 10 kilometre from the finish, while Enric Mas, Egan Bernal, and Jan Christen also lost contact with now about fifteen riders remaining at the front.

Afonso Eulalio initially held on in the group of favourites, but eventually dropped back seven kilometres from the finish. Up ahead, Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli worked for Visma-Lease a Bike until Vingegaard launched his decisive attack 5.4 kilometers from the finish.

Felix Gall was the only rider who could stay relatively close, although he never caught the Dane. Hindley, Pellizzari, and O'Connor were left behind, while Vingegaard paved the way to a victory in the Giro's first major mountain test.

Derek Gee-West was the top Canadian in 8th at 1:42 back.  Gee-West remains top Canadian in the GC moving up to 13th at 6:10 back.