00:02Un week after the 109th Giro d'Italia started in Neseba in Bulgaria,
00:08it reached the mountains at last and a massive day of racing for stage 7
00:14between Formia and Blockhaus, 245 km, incredibly long for a Grand Tour stage
00:20and then the small matter of the climb of Blockhaus at the end of it.
00:26Nearly 14 km in length, average gradient 8.4%.
00:30Afonso Ulelio still in the Malia Rosa, would he be able to hang on to it on the mighty Blockhaus?
00:37His lead was still strong, but it would be a lead that he'd need to keep over the likes of
00:44Jonas Vinagot
00:45on the day that he was expected to challenge.
00:48Remarkably, the first rider to attack to get into the breakaway and form it
00:51was a man who would stay there, Jonathan Milan.
00:55The Italian Lidl Trek rider, in company of Nicolas Zukowski, there was Milan.
01:01Tim Naverman was there too, Diego Sevilla, the King of the Mountains wearer
01:05and Yadi Christian Vanderlei, that man right there for EF Education.
01:10Jonas Vinagot relaxed and Jonathan Milan winning the Malia Ciclamino sprint in Benafro,
01:18about halfway through the stage.
01:20Then the climbing began.
01:23Great to see one of the world's best sprinters working hard in a breakaway on a mountains day too.
01:29A little bit of anger, maybe, in the legs of Jonathan Milan, not yet having got that stage win.
01:34He's looking good though.
01:35That left four out front, including Diego Sevilla, of course, in that King of the Mountains jersey,
01:39who was there for one reason, to pick up more points in the Malia Azura jersey.
01:48Nikolaus Zukowski, as the day went on, was looking stronger and stronger.
01:51The Canadian for Pinarello, Q36.5 in the breakaway.
01:55Definitely the climbing amongst the best of them.
01:58Diego Sevilla made the most of the opportunity to add points to his Malia Azura jersey in the mountains classification,
02:06taking 18 points on top of Roccarazzo, with 78 kilometres to go.
02:13The peloton with the Malia Rosa, Alfonso Iallelio right at the front.
02:19Then the rain started as we started to get it to the slightly higher altitudes, heading for Blockhaus.
02:25And Diego Sevilla himself, recreating his very own Igor Arrieta moment on the descent.
02:30Not going through the tape this time though, and recorrecting sensibly in the dry, thankfully.
02:39He did get back into the break.
02:41It was Tim Neberman going first from the breakaway, leaving these three out front,
02:45led by, as I say, the very strong-looking Nikolaus Zukowski, the Canadian.
02:51Yardy Christian-Vanderly was also looking good, but it was becoming more obvious who of these two were the stronger.
02:57Zukowski survived to the Red Bull kilometre, taking the six seconds there,
03:01ahead of Yardy Christian-Vanderly, and Diego Sevilla also survived, but all three of them by themselves.
03:07It was Red Bull, Bora Hansgrohe, who led the bunch over,
03:10but that bunch itself was already starting to disintegrate.
03:14The gap to these two was coming right down.
03:1610k to go though, Yardy Christian-Vanderly still leading.
03:20They could see the mighty Blockhaus up in front of them.
03:24It was Visma-Lisabait, David Piganzoli doing a long turn to whittle down that leading group,
03:30just before Sepp Kuss did the same too.
03:32Egan Bernal was going out of the back of that leading group too.
03:36Netcompany, Ineos, man, not looking on a good day.
03:41Piganzoli had done his last little bit.
03:44And Sepp Kuss then went as well.
03:46Jai Hindley was sitting in behind.
03:48Yonis Vinagot, Vinagot looking into the eyes of Jai Hindley too.
03:52Alfonso Ulelio either choosing to sit at his own pace or getting dropped from that group.
03:57Make your own mind up, but this is what happened at the front.
04:00At the end of the mighty climb of Blockhaus,
04:02it was Yonis Vinagot completing the trilogy of stage wins in the three Grand Tours.
04:08This, of course, his Giro d'Italia debut.
04:12Felix Gall, only 13 seconds behind.
04:16He'd been tracking Vinagot all the way up Blockhaus.
04:19A brilliant climb by him.
04:20Jai Hindley rolling back the ears to his last win here too,
04:23when he out-sprinted his compatriots in that breakaway.
04:27And Alfonso Ulelio with a brilliant defence of the Malia Rosa.
04:32He would continue wearing it after this.
04:35But the man who'd taken back big time,
04:38Yonis Vinagot.
04:39Respect between those two men.
04:41There was the stage result.
04:42Yonis Vinagot with a very close Felix Gall just behind him.
04:47Alfonso Ulelio's lead has been cut,
04:50but he's still in the Malia Rosa going into this weekend.
04:56Yonis Vinagot now leads by one point in the King of the Mountains competition,
05:00which seemed a little harsh for Sevilla.
05:02After all the work he's done, he'll be in that jersey tomorrow.
05:05The best young rider, of course, is the race leader,
05:07Alfonso Ulelio.
05:11And Paul Manier still leads the Malia Ciclamino competition as well.
05:18So make sure you join us this weekend.
05:25We'll see you next week.
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