A matter of regularity at Pian delle Fugazze

Giro d’Italia U23
Stage 7: Schio- Pian delle Fugazze (136,9 km)

Last mountain final of this year’s Giro Baby and a new great performance by Michel Ries. The Polartec-Kometa Luxembourgian finished seventh at Pian delle Fugazze, where Britain’s Steve Williams (SEG) and his compatriot Mark Donovan (Team Wiggins) took the lead in the pink jersey. Ries improves his overall ranking one place and is now eighth, to 2:41.

Williams, former leader of the race, attacked midway up the final climb, shortly after the last exponents of the numerous escape were hunted, nineteen riders, who starred in much of the day. An escape in which the Polartec-Kometa had the presence of the Italian Matteo Moschetti. The current Transalpine U23 champion relieved the team of a lot of pressure with his presence in that move that came to have more than three and a half minutes of advantage.

In the main group, it was the Colombian team that carried all the weight of the work to support Alejandro Osorio. Once the escape was over with the hunt for Martí Márquez (Lizarte), Ward Jaspers (Lotto-Soudal) and Sven Burger (Tirol), a new stage began in which the leader, after the efforts of the previous one, showed weakness and gave up the lead for a few seconds, specifically fourteen. Williams is still in third place, but 57 seconds behind.

“Again we had a very fast start today and at the end Matteo was able to get into the breakaway that was formed. The rest of my teammates did a great job of protecting me and keeping me in a good position at all times. The last climb was really hard, with really steep stretches. I tried to stay as long as I could with the strongest guys in the race and finally I was able to finish in a good position. I am very happy with the race we had today”, said Ries himself from the Pian delle Fugazze summit. Sevilla and Canton, 72nd and 73rd at 10:57, and Gamper and Moschetti, 105th and 106th at 14:14, reached the finish line later.

In a Giro that has changed its leader in its last five stages, this Friday comes a penultimate day that will surely bring new movements due to the orographic complexities of its layout. The passage through Mount Grappa, a very long ascent and no less long descent, and through Foza, two orographical difficulties already experienced by the Giro d’Italia, will mark the 157.4 kilometres between Levico Terme and Asiago. The summit of Foza is twenty kilometres from the finish line.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)

? Andrew Peat