Giro d'Italia: Greipel Goes Back to Back & Stage 8 Preview

Back to back wins for Andre Greipel and a hat trick for team Lotto Soudal. Photo by Sirotti

Stage 7 of the Giro d’italia finished once again in spectacular fashion as the entire field came together in the last 10kms.

Heading to the early KOM on the 211km day Tim Wellens (LOTTO) took the Mountains Classification after sprinting to fourth at the summit.

A breakaway formed for the majority of the remaining kilometers but it all came back together as the riders entered Foligno.

Caleb Ewan managed fourth place on Stage 7 after opening up an impressive sprint, it just wasn't strong enough to hold of the German Gorilla Greipel. Photo by Sirotti — Caleb Ewan managed fourth place on Stage 7 after opening up an impressive sprint, it just wasn’t strong enough to hold of the German Gorilla Greipel. Photo by Sirotti

Young Australian Caleb Ewan (ORICA) initiated the sprint and looked fast, but with great execution Andre Greipel (LOTTO) slipped his way through the traffic and muscled himself into first place. Ewan held onto fourth position in his first year inside the WorldTour peloton.

Stage 7 Results:
1. André Greipel (Ger) – Lotto Soudal – 5:01:08
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) – Trek-Segafredo
3. Sacha Modolo (Ita) – Lampre-Merida
4. Caleb Ewan (Aus) – Orica-GreenEdge
5. Enrico Battaglin (Ita) – Team LottoNl-Jumbo
6. Matteo Trentin (Ita) – Etixx – Quick-Step
7. Alexander Porsev (Rus) – Team Katusha
8. Aleksei Tsatevich (Rus) – Team Katusha
9. Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) – Bardiani CSF
10. Elia Viviani (Ita) – Team Sky

Tom Dumoulin sleeps in the Maglia Rosa once more. Photo by Sirotti

Tom Dumoulin still wears the pink leaders jersey with 26 seconds over Jakob Fuglsang from Astana.

General Classification after Stage 7:
1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) – Team Giant-Alpecin – 29:23:23
2. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) – Astana Pro Team – 0:00:26
3. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) – Team Katusha – 0:00:28
4. Bob Jungels (Lux) – Etixx – Quick-Step – 0:00:35
5. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) – Team LottoNl-Jumbo – 0:00:38
6. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) – Movistar Team – 0:00:41
7. Diego Ulissi (Ita) – Lampre-Merida – 0:00:41
8. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) – Astana Pro Team – 0:00:47
9. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) – Dimension Data – 0:00:49
10. Rigoberto Uran (Col) – Cannondale Pro Cycling – 0:00:51

Stage 8 – FOLIGNO – AREZZO, 186km

The route

This stage combines flat and mountain roads. The route runs up the Tiber River valley, after rolling past Assisi and Perugia, all the way up to Città di Castello. The roads are quite wide, but with worn out surfaces in places, and narrowing when cutting through urban areas. Just past Città di Castello, the route leaves the Tiber River valley to tackle the steep Anghiari ascent first, followed by the Scheggia categorised climb. The stage course rolls along wavy roads, with a few narrower sectors while crossing urban areas, all the way up to Indicatore (intermediate sprint) and Arezzo. Next on the route, after a first pass over the finish line, is the Alpe di Poti climb, featuring 6.4km on dirt roads, and double-digit gradients. After clearing the KOM summit, the road drops quickly into Foce dello Scopetone and straight into the finish.

Final kms

The final kilometres run entirely within the city. A fast descent down from Scopetone, with wide bends, leads to the stadium. The route then cuts across the city centre, where traffic dividers and roundabouts will be the main obstacles. After the “flamme rouge”, the route takes two right-hand bends on wide roundabouts, and passes under a mediaeval gateway. A short, steep climb (first on asphalt road, and then on stone-slab paving) leads to the home straight (200m), still slightly uphill (approx 5%), on 6m wide stone-slab paving.