As Mads Pedersen's memorable stint in the pink jersey came to an end on the Giro d'Italia's first real mountain stage, Lidl-Trek hatched a clever plan to try and maintain the race lead with Mathias Vacek, who just fell short in the final kilometres of the climb in Tagliacozzo.
Vacek has been one of the stars of the race so far, often Pedersen's most valuable teammate on sprint days and over climbs, highlighting his powerful versatility at just 22. But for much of stage 7, Vacek looked as though he could pull off the climbing performance of his career and take over the maglia rosa, until he lost contact in the final 1.5km.
