Stage 7

The road

At the start

Friday the thirteenth in the Apennines

The Giro leaves the coast for the first time and finds the Apennines: four categorised climbs, four and a half thousand metres of climbing, and a finish in Potenza that ramps to thirteen per cent inside the last hundred metres. Juan Pedro López has held pink for three days, 38 seconds up on Lennard Kämna and 1:42 on Simon Yates. It is Friday the thirteenth, and it looks like a day for the breakaway.

How it was won

1. 1106 km to go

   Bouwman into virtual pink

   It took 70km for the break to settle on a parcours with 4,500 metres of climbing. At the top of Monte Sirino, Bouwman is quickest for the full forty mountain points ahead of Poels and Mollema — and with the peloton 5:30 back, he is the leader of the Giro on the road.

2. 261 km to go

   Six kilometres at 9.6%

   The savage third climb ends Poels' day and stops Villella, who needs mechanical help after an earlier crash. At the steep top section Bouwman produces a zippy sprint for another full haul, putting the blue jersey on his shoulders.

3. 330 km to go

   Dumoulin turns the screw

   Setting pace for his teammate turns into attacking on his own account. Dumoulin kicks with thirty kilometres left and Formolo, Mollema and Bouwman all grimace and follow; a third dig drops nobody but his own leader, and Bouwman has to fight his way back.

4. 424 km to go

   Bouwman skips away again

   He rejoins with a kilometre of climbing left and still has enough zip to jump clear over the top for maximum points once more, Formolo trying to steal a march onto the descent behind him.

5. 57 km to go

   Games in Potenza

   Mollema and Formolo trade testing accelerations on the approach, and all the tactical fencing simply lets Dumoulin close back up. The Dutchman then hits the front and rides a steady tempo, effectively leading out the man he came here to help.

6. 6At the line

   Bouwman wins on the 13% kick

   The final two kilometres ramp to 8%, then 13% in the last hundred metres. Dumoulin holds it to 300 metres out and Bouwman hits out furiously — the responses from Mollema and Formolo never look like an answer. A first Grand Tour stage, with his leader shadowing him over the line.

The result