Results & Comments: Stage 7 Giro’16

Aandré Greipel Wins Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia, Tom Dumoulin Retains Maglia Rosa
3rd consecutive stage win for Lotto Soudal, 2nd sprint win for German Colossus

Foligno, 13 May 2016 – The German rider André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) won Stage 7 of the 99th Giro d’Italia, Sulmona – Foligno, of 211km, in a bunch sprint. Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek – Segafredo) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre – Merida) finished second and third.

Marcel Kittel (Etixx – Quick-Step) wasn’t involved in the bunch sprint, due to a puncture in the final kilometres.

Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant – Alpecin) remains the race leader and keeps the Maglia Rosa.

FINAL RESULT
1 – André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) – 211km in 5h01’08”, average speed 42.041km/h
2 – Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek – Segafredo) s.t.
3 – Sacha Modolo (Lampre – Merida) s.t.

JERSEYS
Maglia Rosa (pink), General Classification, sponsored by Enel – Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant – Alpecin)
Maglia Rossa (red), Sprint Classification, sponsored by Algida – André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
Maglia Azzurra (blue), Mountains Classification, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)
Maglia Bianca (white), Young Rider Classification, sponsored by Eurospin – Bob Jungels (Etixx – Quick-Step)

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 – Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant – Alpecin)
2 – Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) at 26″
3 – Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha) at 28″

Seconds after the stage finish, stage winner André Greipel said: “It was tough all day with a strong breakaway that was hard to catch. My team did an amazing job. The chase had to be a serious one. Before the sprint, we hit the front early. I was happy to find my way to another win. The finish was nervous. If we were playing football we’d say we’ve scored a hat trick with three consecutive stage wins. We’re very happy”.

Race leader Tom Dumoulin said: “We were hoping for the breakaway to go from the gun but Nippo – Vini Fantini wasn’t happy with what happened because of the King of the Mountains competition. They chased on the climb and they made the race hard. A small group formed and eventually a breakaway went. It came back together, but what a hard day!”.

TOMORROW’S STAGE
Stage 8 – FOLIGNO – AREZZO – 186km
This stage combines flat and mountain roads. The route runs up the Tiber River valley, after rolling past Assisi and Perugia, all the way up to Città di Castello. The roads are quite wide, but with worn out surfaces in places, and narrowing when cutting through urban areas. Just past Città di Castello, the route leaves the Tiber River valley to tackle the steep Anghiari ascent first, followed by the Scheggia categorised climb. The stage course rolls along wavy roads, with a few narrower sectors while crossing urban areas, all the way up to Indicatore (intermediate sprint) and Arezzo. Next on the route, after a first pass over the finish line, is the Alpe di Poti climb, featuring 6.4km on dirt roads, and double-digit gradients. After clearing the KOM summit, the road drops quickly into Foce dello Scopetone and straight into the finish.

Final kms
The final kilometres run entirely within the city. A fast descent down from Scopetone, with wide bends, leads to the stadium. The route then cuts across the city centre, where traffic dividers and roundabouts will be the main obstacles. After the “flamme rouge”, the route takes two right-hand bends on wide roundabouts, and passes under a mediaeval gateway. A short, steep climb (first on asphalt road, and then on stone-slab paving) leads to the home straight (200m), still slightly uphill (approx 5%), on 6m wide stone-slab paving.

#Giro

PHOTO CREDIT: ANSA – PERI / DI MEO / ZENNARO