The first escape of this Giro Next Gen it only came to fruition in the seventh stage, which lent itself well to attacks from afar. The victory goes to Zocca Huub Artzborn in 2002 Wanty-ReUZ-Technordwith a two-year contract already secured with the World Tour team. The Dutch rider has shown off several times this season even among the pros, and can be considered one of the most versatile riders among the under 23s. Strong in pace, with good quick start, a certain aptitude for the classics (he won the Gent-Wevelgem category) and also for gear climbs like today’s.
A climb that certainly didn’t favor an action by the big names in the general classification, who after yesterday’s efforts in Fosse let it go today without getting too excited, except for a couple of attempts at Leo Bisiaux. A situation that works to the advantage of Jarno Widarwho has never had to suffer too much to complete another day of managing his pink jersey.
Giro Next Gen, the chronicle of the seventh stage
Not distributed Matteo Scalco (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), which yesterday completely dropped out of the rankings, leaving ad Alessandro Pinarello single captain ranks, though Luca Paletti he in turn managed to get back into the top fifteen with a good performance on the Fosse climb.
There is a lot of flat land before the final climb to Zocca, and there is room for a large breakaway. On the attack Noa Isidore (Decathlon AG2R The World Development Team), Luca Dressler (Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank), Lorenzo Peschi (General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia), Samuele Privitera (Hagens Berman Jayco), Callum Thornley (Trinity Racing), Alessandro Borgo (Biesse-Carrera), Alessandro Romele (Astana Qazaqstan Development Team) e Huub Artz (Wanty-ReUz-Technord). There are for the eight attackers almost six minutes ahead halfway through the stage, in what is the longest section of this edition with its 180 kilometres.
A gap that remains considerable as the final climb approaches, because no team takes the honor of the chase, and only the fight between the trains to position the captains increases the group’s action. Despite yesterday’s half-defeat, Tudor is still taking control of the situation to help Mathys Rondel, who immediately wants to take back the seconds lost yesterday.
Huub Artz takes flight, behind it there is nothing done
Up front Artz immediately tries to change pace and skim the leading group, with only Privitera and Thornley following him. The pace of the Tudor brought the gap under three minutes to -8 from the top, but the first real jolt is theattack by Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon AG2R). The Frenchman brings with him Fabian Weiss (Tudor) e Darren van Bekkum (Team Visma Lease a Bike). The Frenchman is the main driving force behind this attempt, as well as the only one in the running for the classification (sixth at 2’10” from Widar). At that point it is the UAE Gen Z to spend himself to go to close, and even after having recovered Bisiaux continues to set the pace for a possible action Pablo Torres.
The question for the stage victory is narrowed down to the three pacesetters, and is resolved four kilometers from the finish. Huub Artz accelerates and manages to get off the wheel of Thornley and Privitera, who are unable to keep up with the Dutchman. The Wanty rider arrives at the finish line all alone, with a 25″ advantage over the Scottish rider from Trinity, who in the meantime has also managed to overtake Privitera. The other Italians who were in the breakaway also finished, with Borghi in fourth place ahead of Romele and Peach.
A pink jersey group still quite large arrives at 2’26” because the slopes at the end do not favor attacks but only the final sprint. A very generous Bisiaux tries again several times, together with José Ramón Muñiz (Petrolike), but in the end there will be no gaps. Widar therefore still arrives in the pink jersey on the eve of the last stage, with a 52″ margin over Torres and 58″ over Rondel and Pau Martíto be administered in tomorrow’s section with arrival in Forlimpopoli, in which the Bertinoro climb is repeated four times.
