ROME (Reuters) - Davide Bais of Eolo-Kometa won a gruelling stage seven of the Giro d’Italia 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 kilometers.
They waited for each other to take charge in the final kilometer 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.
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.