Maiden title for Juan Ayuso

A clinical attack from Ayuso inside the final kilometre of the first summit finish of the race saw the 22-year-old debutant swoop to victory at Tagliacozzo ahead of Mexican team-mate Isaac del Toro

Hyderabad: Juan Ayuso’s devastating late attack saw the Spaniard swoop to a maiden Giro d’Italia stage win in the race’s first summit finish at Tagliacozza (Italy). Ayuso led home a UAE Team Emirates-XRG one-two ahead of Mexico’s Isaac del Toro and Colombia’s Egan Bernal.

Out of position for the finale, Primoz Roglic did enough to take over the pink jersey by just four seconds. Spain’s Juan Ayuso brought home a UAE Emirates-XRG one-two in Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia as Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) recovered after a late wobble to take back the pink jersey.

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A clinical attack from Ayuso inside the final kilometre of the first summit finish of the race saw the 22-year-old debutant swoop to victory at Tagliacozzo ahead of Mexican team-mate Isaac del Toro.

Roglic battled back to finish fourth on the wheel of Colombia’s Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and wrest the maglia rosa from Mads Pedersen’s broad shoulders after the Dane from Lidl-Trek came home 15 minutes down in the gruppetto.

Italy’s Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) completed the top five ahead of compatriots Antonio Tiberi and Damiano Caruso (both Bahrain Victorious), with Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) also finishing in the same chase group four seconds back.

Britain’s Max Poole (Picnic PostNL) led home a trio at eight seconds alongside Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Britain’s Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike). But it was a bad day for Poole’s team-mate Romain Bardet after the veteran Frenchman lost time after a crash with 40km remaining of the 168km stage through the rugged Abruzzo region of central Italy.

Both Bardet and his fellow French climber David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) were involved in the incident, and despite returning to the peloton ahead of the final climb, they were dropped once the double-digit ramps appeared in the decisive moment of the Cat 1 test.

“It’s my fourth Grand Tour and I’ve been very close [to a stage win] in the two Vueltas that I have ridden, but I never managed to pull it off,” an ecstatic Ayuso said. “To finally do it today in my first Giro d’Italia is something super special and I will always remember.”