Stage 7

The road

At the start

Blockhaus, and the climbers wake up

Afonso Eulálio has had the maglia rosa for two days and leads Igor Arrieta by 2:51, but every one of those minutes was borrowed from a breakaway. Today the Giro's real climbers get their first say: 244 kilometres out of Formia, then Blockhaus — 13.6 kilometres at 8.4%, ten of them above nine. Jonas Vingegaard is over six minutes down and has yet to attack in earnest.

How it was won

1. 19 km to go

   Blockhaus claims Arrieta

   On the brutal early slopes of Blockhaus, second-overall Igor Arrieta is one of the first big names shelled, losing contact 9.2km from the summit as Red Bull wind up the tempo.

2. 29 km to go

   Visma take over

   Piganzoli and Kuss seize the front 8.5km out, the wind howling across the exposed mountainside, and the GC group is stripped to its bare bones.

3. 36 km to go

   Vingegaard's first blow

   As maglia rosa Eulálio lets go 5.7km from the line, Vingegaard lands the opening blow of the Giro's GC war, only Pellizzari and Gall able to respond.

4. 45 km to go

   The killer acceleration

   Vingegaard kicks again 4.5km from the top and this time Pellizzari is gone for good. The Dane rides clear alone into the wind, the race leadership already taking shape behind.

5. 52 km to go

   Gall's brave chase

   In the forested final two kilometres, sheltered at last from the gale, a resurgent Felix Gall pegs the gap at twenty seconds — a ride that saves his podium hopes if not the stage.

6. 6At the line

   Vingegaard soars at Blockhaus

   Vingegaard crosses the line alone atop Blockhaus for the 49th win of his career, a record-setting ascent that stamps his authority on the race's first summit finish.

The result