9 hours ago
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Primoz Roglic pulled on the pink jersey after stage seven of the Giro d’Italia but Juan Ayuso underlined his credentials as his main challenger by snatching victory in Tagliacozzo, in central Italy.
Ayuso (UAE-Team Emirates) had the power to break clear from a select group of favourites in the final few hundred metres of the 12km climb to the finish. His Mexican teammate Isaac Del Toro came second.
“It’s my fourth Grand Tour, and especially in the two Vueltas a España I raced I was sometimes very close, but I never managed to pull it off,” 22-year-old Ayuso said. “So to finally do it today in my first Giro d’Italia is something super special that I will always remember.”
The 2021 Giro winner, Egan Bernal (Ineos), took a hugely encouraging third after an attacking ride three years on from a career-threatening crash. Roglic was initially missing when Ayuso made his move but recovered to cross the line fourth on the stage.
That proved enough for Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to take pink by four seconds from the Spaniard at the end of the first major general classification test – with Mads Pedersen surrendering the lead as expected.
The 22-year-old Briton Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) was ninth on the stage to move up to fifth overall, 30sec down, while Simon Yates sits ninth for Visma–Lease a Bike at 39sec. His twin, Adam, carrying injuries from a crash on Thursday, lost a handful of seconds but UAE Team Emirates man remains within a minute of pink, while Tom Pidcock of Q36.5 lost ground near the finish and is now 70sec from Roglic overall.
Another Briton, Paul Double, was part of a seven-strong breakaway on the 168km stage from Castel di Sangro. Double, of Jayco–AlUla, was the virtual leader on the road for much of the day as the group built a lead of more than three minutes, but they were reeled in before the steepest part of the final climb.
“I knew that I could do only one attack and not mess around with two or three on this final which was very explosive,” Ayuso said. “When I saw my distance I went full gas. It was important today to not only get the win but also try and recover the time I lost in the time trial.”
