2020 Giro d’Italia – Stage 7 – Highlights, Report, Results
Highlights
Report
It is from quite a stunning setting in Matera that stage 7 of the Giro started on Friday afternoon. The stage was quite short, only 143 kilometers, and its main danger was known by everyone. “There was wind all day,” Sébastien Joly recalled. “From yesterday evening on, the guys were ready to fight for it. They knew what to expect and they were super motivated. Ramon, in particular, was keen to make a contribution after two difficult days. The race quickly exploded at the start, they ended up being barely 30 in front, and most of our guys were there. When you’re there right away, as we were, it clearly is the sign of a great day.” The Deceuninck-Quick Step and Jumbo-Visma’s acceleration, which dropped some of the GC contenders, quickly caught the breakaway that emerged in the opening minutes. Therefore, an intense fight took place for more than an hour before the pack would come back as one. “Our goal is to have as many guys as possible in the finale for Arnaud’s lead-out train,” Sébastien explained. “Obviously, if we put too much energy into the battle in this kind of echelons, we will automatically miss this very energy at the end. The guys rode smart. They were there, well sheltered but they didn’t overdo it.”
Before the first intermediate sprint, located after 66 kilometers, everything then got back to normal. Simon Pellaud and Marco Frapporti, already on the attack at the start of the stage, took the lead again, preventing the sprinters to collect the maximum points for the cyclamen jersey. Wearing this very jersey on Friday, Arnaud Démare took fourth place in this sprint. “Then the wind was not that strong anymore, and it was more difficult to create echelons. It was still quite tense and there was a big crash,” explained Sébastien. Once again, a general regrouping nevertheless took place, as Miles Scotson also suffered a crash – a minor one, fortunately. The Australian rider was then fully operational for the finale, and so was the rest of the team. “With the headwind, the bunch took all the space of the road until three kilometers to go,” said Arnaud Démare, still preceded by five teammates entering the last ten kilometers. “We knew it would be a real sprint today, that all the sprinters would be there. Therefore, the fight for position was quite intense approaching the city. The road then became narrower and more winding, and we were in a good position”. Constantly in the front in the few turns stretching the peloton in the finale, Groupama-FDJ however had to adjust along the way.
“We had to switch roles,” said the French champion. “We did it instinctively. Ramon had a problem with one kilometre to go, and we immediately exchanged a few words. Jacopo told Miles “take Ramon’s role”. As for Kono, he had already put in a lot of effort beforehand but he is doing so great at the moment that he still had the strength to be there. He’s a handyman and he was there 800m from the line”. “The most impressive thing today,” Sébastien added, “is that Kono and Miles are the ones launching Jacopo. Miles undoubtedly wanted to redeem himself after the fourth stage’s confusion, and it was also a real pleasure to see Kono there. This is today’s great story. The guys are able to organize themselves according to each finish. We should emphasize this collective intelligence”. In a few words that he repeated twice on air, Arnaud Démare summed up: “I have a fantastic team! It’s extraordinary”. The Frenchman was left with 250 meters to go, first took Davide Ballerini’s wheel before moving to the right of the road and hold Sagan back. “There was a big fight in the end”, he said. “I waited a bit, I didn’t want to launch too early. There was a 3/4 headwind and it was not easy. In the end, I started my sprint the right way and I managed to keep Sagan at my pedals level. Once again, the sprint was not perfect, but we won it and that is the most important thing”.
Sébastien Joly also underlined the work of Grand Tour’s debutant Simon Guglielmi, “who was not expected at this level in a finale”. At the end of the day, there was “nothing wrong” he could say about the team performance. “They’re on a winning streak and we are not going to stop them,” he concluded. As of tomorrow, the profile does not completely suit Arnaud Démare. However, the points classification’s leader (55 points ahead of Peter Sagan) still looks hungry for more. “It seems complicated to me, I’m also a little tired, but we will obviously fight for it”, he promised. “There are steep slopes along the way, that’s what I’m more afraid about. We’ll see, but for now, I want to enjoy this one.”
Results
Stage
| 1 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 2:47:28 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
| 3 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb | |
| 4 | Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers | |
| 5 | Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
| 6 | Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation | |
| 7 | Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep | |
| 8 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren | |
| 9 | Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ | |
| 10 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis |
General Classification
| 1 | Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 24:48:29 |
| 2 | Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren | 0:00:43 |
| 3 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb | 0:00:48 |
| 4 | Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:00:59 |
| 5 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 0:01:01 |
| 6 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling | 0:01:05 |
| 7 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | 0:01:19 |
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma | 0:01:21 |
| 9 | Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:01:26 |
| 10 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:01:32 |
Points
| 1 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 161 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | 106 |
| 3 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb | 83 |
| 4 | Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers | 45 |
| 5 | Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 40 |
Mountains
| 1 | Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers | 41 |
| 2 | Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Pro Cycling | 40 |
| 3 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling | 19 |
| 4 | Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM | 18 |
| 5 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | 18 |
Young Riders
| 1 | Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep | 24:48:29 |
| 2 | Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:00:59 |
| 3 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | 0:01:33 |
| 4 | Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:02:12 |
| 5 | Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:02:47 |