The expected general classification scrap on the first summit finish of the Giro d’Italia never came as Italian Davide Bais took a surprise stage seven victory from a breakaway.
More than three minutes after Bais took his first professional win, the main contenders came to the top of the Gran Sasso together and did little more than ensure there were no time gaps between them, with world champion Remco Evenepoel leading the group home.
It was a long way from the anticipated drama as the main contenders passed up an opportunity to lay down a marker, an unexpected truce amongst rivals who remain bunched up in the standings behind race leader Andreas Leknessund.
A stage that finished well above the snow line was one where the weather might have added to the drama, but instead Geraint Thomas said the wind had dissuaded any of the big names from making a move.
“There was a super strong headwind,” the Welshman said. “Everyone was just waiting really, no one wanted to push the pace, in the wheels it was a lot easier.
“It was a bit of a stalemate. We kind of wanted to race a bit but it wasn’t the conditions to. I feel alright, I’m feeling better, we’ll be able to see once the race really kicks off in the last week.”
Leknessund, enjoying his third day in pink, called the stage “a bit boring” as he braced for attacks that never came.
“We were quite lucky how the day unfolded,” the Norwegian said. “In the end it was only full gas in the last few kilometres, but we are grateful for that as we get more days in pink.”
Few gave a small breakaway much if any hope when they rolled off the front early on, but victory for the escapees reflected the cagey tactics of those with bigger ambitions behind.
When Simon Yates won in pink on this mountain in 2018 it proved a day for the big favourites, but this time the main peloton rolled slowly up the mountain as one.
The ingredients had all been there. The day began in damp conditions, with the threat of standing water on the road and reports of snow at the finish. The fact that few riders fancied the breakaway was understandable, but many that sat back would have been kicking themselves six hours later.
Bais went off the front along with Simone Petilli, Karel Vacek and Henok Mulubrhan and they were quickly afford 10 minutes, enough to make Petilli the virtual race leader on the road as he started the day seven and a half minutes down.
Mulubrhan would fall back, but the longer the day went on, the more obvious it became that the front three would fight for the stage. As they began the first of the two back-to-back climbs which effectively made this a 45km drag to the summit, their advantage was still more than 10 minutes.
Petilli tried to make the first attack with six kilometres still remaining but the three were still together coming into the final few hundred metres. Petilli again went first but Bais swept past him as Vacek came through to take second.
