Bais wins stage seven of Giro after gruelling climb
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The seventh stage was one for the climbers on a 218-km ride from Capua to Gran Sasso d'Italia
Capua to Gran Sasso d'Italia - Italy (Reuters) - Davide Bais of Eolo-Kometa won a gruelling stage seven of the Giro d'Italia on Friday after leading a three-man breakaway, beating Karel Vacek and Simone Petilli to the finish line for the first professional victory of his career.
The seventh stage was one for the climbers on a 218-km ride from Capua to Gran Sasso d'Italia which involved flat roads at the start before the final climb of approximately 45km and a total altitude gain of 3,900 metres.
The breakaway trio of Bais, Petilli and Vacek were seven-and-a-half minutes ahead of the peloton with 20km to go and they showed no signs of slowing down as the rest of the group played catch-up.
As they pedalled up an unrelenting climb through snow-banked roads, Czech rider Vacek fell away and looked to be out of the contest before he put his head down and caught up with the two Italians again in the final two kilometres.
They waited for each other to take charge in the final kilometre but it was 25-year-old Bais who found a reserve of energy to surge ahead. He dropped his rivals and sprinted ahead in the last 200 metres to take victory with Italian fans around the finish line roaring their approval. Vacek finished second while Petilli was third after the pair ran out of steam.
"Finally my first pro win has arrived. It was unexpected because I went into the breakaway to prepare for an attack by (team mate) Lorenzo Fortunato," Bais said. "He was the inspiration for our team to go for a mountain stage victory since he made it at Monte Zoncolan two years ago.
"In the finale I knew I was the fastest so I waited for my time to come to do the last effort." It was a second stage win at the Giro for Italians this week after Jonathan Milan won stage two in a sprint finish.
Andreas Leknessund of Team DSM retained the leader's maglia rosa jersey with a 28-second lead over Remco Evenepoel, who led the sprint involving the general classification riders that finished three minutes and 10 seconds behind Bais.
He was joined by another pre-race favourite, Primoz Roglic, with no change in the general classification as the contenders opted not to attack with a headwind making things difficult on the mountain.
"It was hard to climb up here but we controlled the situation. I was expecting some attacks that never happened because there was a headwind," Leknessund said. "I felt good climbing up here with the GC favourites. I'm happy to retain the maglia rosa. That was my goal."
Leknessund could hold on to the maglia rosa on Saturday but the Norwegian's lead will be put to the test in Sunday's time trial.
