Juan Ayuso sprinted to victory from a select group on the summit finish at the end of Giro d'Italia stage seven, as Primož Roglič moved into the race lead.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Ayuso timed his attack on the Tagliacozzo climb to perfection to take time on his general classification rivals and bonus seconds as well. Meanwhile, Roglič of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe lost seconds, but will now wear the pink jersey.
Isaac del Toro, also of UAE, is now in third overall after finishing second on stage seven, with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) coming third.
There was a shakeup on the general classification after the first summit finish of the race, with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) dropping back. Ayuso is now in second overall, just four seconds behind Roglič.
It was a cagey ascent of the final climb, with no rider looking able to make the decisive move until late, when Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) repeatedly attacked, then Bernal, before Ayuso sprung away.
"It’s my fourth Grand Tour," Ayuso said post-stage. "Especially in the two Vueltas a España I raced, sometimes I was very close but I never managed to pull it off, so to finally do it today, at my first Giro d’Italia, is something super special, and I’ll always remember.
"I knew that I only could do one attack, I couldn’t mess around and do one or two or three on these finals that are really explosive. You only have one bullet to waste, no? I let others start attacking before and then when I saw my distance I went full gas to the finish.
"It was really important today to not only get the win but leave with a good feeling, to try and recover the time I lost in the time trial," he continued. "So for sure it’s something that gives a lot of confidence for the coming day, and I hope tomorrow we save the day and then Siena comes which is very difficult for us GC guys. I hope I can arrive to the rest day in the front."
"I was a bit behind, I didn’t really fight much," Roglič said. "I wasn’t fighting for the win today, but it was a good result. I’m happy. I was just not there, you try to give your best, but sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
"I don’t know, we will see," he said when asked if he would continue in pink. "The guys are getting closer, maybe someone else will take it. We will try to give our best with the whole team. The guys were amazing after yesterday."
How it happened
Friday was set to be a day for the general classification riders, as it ended in one of just two summit finishes at the Giro d’Italia.
A categorised climb, the category three Roccaraso, is 7.8km at 5.8%, was tackled right out of the neutral zone, meaning fierce racing from the gun. Despite multiple attempts by UAE Team Emirates-XRG to infiltrate the day’s break, this was repeatedly shut down by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
There was still no escape by the top of the climb, where the points were taken by king of the mountains leader Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana).
Eventually, a group did get up the road - Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step), Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) and Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta). However, Vine’s presence made the peloton chase, so the Australian eventually dropped back.
In his place, others came to the group - Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL) and Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
At this point, the peloton finally let the break go, but their lead was never allowed beyond five minutes. Double, in his debut Grand Tour, took maximum points on the two second category climbs of Monte Urano and Vado della Forcella to move up in the mountains classification.
With 55km to go, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were joined by other teams on the front of the peloton, which quickly saw the break’s advantage reduced. Among those on the front of the bunch was Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the pink jersey, who had clearly become a super-domestique for the day. It was clear that his time in the race lead was coming to an end.
An innocuous crash in the peloton saw both Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) hit the deck.
The break’s advantage disappeared as the day’s final climb hoved into view - Tagliacozzo, which was 11.9km at 5.5%, but with more than 2km at 10.1%.
On its steep climbs, the day’s escapees were swept up by an ever-thinning bunch, which in the closing stages was down to just 20 riders.
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) was the first to make a serious move, followed by Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers). However, inside the final 500m, it was Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) who stole a march on his competitors, springing to victory. It briefly looked like his big rival Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was distanced, but the Slovenian limited his losses to four seconds. Isaac del Toro, also of UAE, finished second, with Bernal in third.
Results
Giro d'Italia 2025, stage 7: Castel di Sangro > Tagliacozzo
1. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:20:25
2. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +4s
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time
9. Max Poole (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +8s
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, at same time
Giro d'Italia 2025 general classification after stage 7
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 24:32:30
2. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +4s
3. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +9s
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +27s
5. Max Poole (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +30s
6. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +33s
7. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +34s
8. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +37s
9. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +39s
10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, at same time
