Stage 7 Results: Margaux Vigié ABANDONS!
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Giro d’Italia Women Gamers!
STAGE Grade: B-
I rate today’s stage a B-. Same as yesterday, but with fewer surprises. The breakaway had a giant lead, but the peloton had it well under control. It was surprising that there were attacks on the descent, and that the stage didn’t end in a bunch sprint. But that just made the final hour worth watching, not the entire stage.
Route: 1/5 GC: 1/5 Tactics: 3/5 Sprint: 3/5 Surprises: 3/5
The old school rule of one minute per ten kilometers still works. That’s how much of a lead the peloton can take back on a breakaway. I thought more than eight minutes was a giant gap, but the peloton did have 80 kilometers to close that gap. And once they got to work, they averaged more than a minute per ten kilometers.
But the peloton did not, as I thought yesterday, try to catch the breakaway before the intermediate sprint. I don’t know why I ever believed that. Elisa Balsamo has an enormous lead in the points competition, so nobody cares about those points. And the GC riders aren’t going to chase a breakaway all day for a few bonus seconds.
I did think the peloton would catch the breakaway before the top of the climb because why not. You have to catch them at some point. They didn’t do that either, but FDJ United – SUEZ had a plan. Immediately over the top, they attacked. Célia Gery in front, Demi Vollering behind her.
Why? I’ve no idea! Testing Anna van der Breggen, a little less quick on the descent? But surely, they didn’t think they could drop van der Breggen permanently? Or was this another case of hurting other riders just because they could?
It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. It turned out to have consequences, though. Silvia Persico saw an opportunity. Having the ability to drop down the mountain like a brick has its advantages. She took Gery’s wheel, chopping off Vollering in the process, and the two took off. It was Vollering who was dropped.
That changed the race. Persico and Gery caught up with the four breakaway riders. Behind them, Lucinda Brand left the peloton to bridge to the front. Interesting — you’d think she’d stay there to lead out for Elisa Balsamo. But perhaps Lidl-Trek were thinking: a win is a win. Put Brand in the breakaway and keep Balsamo as plan B.
Then Elisa Longo Borghini did the same thing. That is a GC rider, so now the race changed again. Movistar and CANYON//SRAM have GC riders ahead of Longo Borghini, they don’t want the breakaway to take too much time.
Lidl-Trek and FDJ, on the other hand, have no reason to bring the breakaway back. Lidl-Trek has plan B with Balsamo, and FDJ have a chance to win the stage as long as the breakaway lives on.
In the breakaway, Persico was going to ride as hard as she could to help Longo Borghini. Brand was going to do absolutely nothing. Three riders from the original breakaway were happy to be there and would ride as hard as they could. Which means that Gery could do as little as possible as well.
To my bewilderment, though, FDJ blinked, and then they unblinked. They blinked because they were chasing Longo Borghini for a while. Question: whose team has to chase the GC rider in the breakaway? Answer: the leader’s team. But Team SD Worx – Protime was nowhere to be seen. Van der Breggen was at the back of the peloton, smirking. Let FDJ make their own mistakes, thought she. We won’t stop them.
After a while, though, Vollering herself came to her senses. She pedaled to the front and urged Ally Wollaston to slow down. That was strange because I assume it was Vollering herself who had commanded her troops to chase Longo Borghini. But that’s Vollering, she gets a little nervous in situations like this. At least she ended up doing the right thing.
CANYON//SRAM then had most of the work to do to catch Longo Borghini. They needed the breakaway to be caught both because of Antonia Niedemaier’s third place GC position, and Chiara Consonni’s sprint chances.
The tactics could have worked out either way. In the end, the riders in the breakaway never gave up and victory was theirs. Well, victory was Gery’s, who had done nothing. I wasn’t sure who was the faster sprinter, Gery or Brand. Brand went early but I think that’s okay. They were somewhat equal, Brand hadn’t done any work either. Give it a go, see what happens. Gery won the stage.
Every time we saw Demi Vollering, we saw Eva van Agt no more than two bikes away. Clearly her job is to shadow Vollering the entire race, at least when it’s flat. Quite a promotion for a rider who was fairly anonymous with Team Visma – Lease-a-Bike. And it confirms what I thought: Vollering saw something she liked about van Agt, and got her to join the French FDJ team.
Tip of the hat to the riders of the small teams today, especially Chantal Pegolo. She sprinted to a deserved third place today, by far the best result of her pro cycling career. Which started this year. She’s 19, I would think she has a future in pro cycling. She only has a one-year contract with Isolmant – Premac – Vittoria. I’ll be interested in seeing where she rides next year.
Watch the final kilometers HERE.
Watch the TNT Sports highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Margau Vigié abandoned today. Probably feeling sick, I didn’t see her involved in a crash yesterday. She had scored a surprising 42 points for Team Amalia — who will miss her the rest of the Giro.
A sprint day not won by the sprinters made it a small points day, or at least a small points differential day. Practically the same results as yesterday. Team Charles won, beating Team Ansel on points from classifications. Both had six riders in the Top-25. Team Amalia was right behind them, and nothing was decided today either way.
Saturday should decide a lot, if not everything, for everyone. In the 2026 Giro d’Italia Women and in our game. The stage will be dominated by the big climb of the Colle delle Finestre — 18.5 kilometers at 9.2%. Only real climbers need apply, and this is a Demi Vollering v Anna van der Breggen showdown, plain and simple. I think Vollering can put a minute on van der Breggen on that climb. Will van der Breggen be able to come back on the valley, though? The stage ends with a category 3 climb to the ski lifts of Sestriere. It’s a little underrated, I think: 16.2 kilometers at 3.8%. The last six kilometers are 6%. You can crack there, but you can’t count on putting a minute plus on another rider.
Therefore: Vollering must crack van der Breggen on the climb to Finestre. If van der Breggen is within two minutes, I think she’ll win the Giro. And that’s how I think it will play out tomorrow: the stage for Vollering, van der Breggen remains in the Maglia Rosa.
Standings after stage 7:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Charles* |
1338 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
1314 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Amalia* |
1265 |
3 |
0 |
Standings after stage 7 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Charlotte |
1437 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Kent |
1398 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Charles* |
1338 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Ansel* |
1314 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Laurens |
1289 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Amalia* |
1265 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Kate |
1191 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Ellie |
1139 |
8 |
0 |
|
9 |
Team Corsa |
1132 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Kari |
1091 |
10 |
0 |
|
11 |
Team Julie |
1053 |
11 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 7:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
PINK JERSEY |
PURPLE JERSEY |
BLUE JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
69 |
45 |
7 |
9 |
0 |
61 |
130 |
1135 |
1265 |
|
Team Ansel* |
73 |
37 |
12 |
6 |
3 |
58 |
131 |
1183 |
1314 |
|
Team Charles* |
73 |
43 |
12 |
6 |
3 |
64 |
137 |
1201 |
1338 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 7 (including adults):
|
Team Amalia* |
69 |
45 |
7 |
9 |
0 |
61 |
130 |
1135 |
1265 |
|
Team Ansel* |
73 |
37 |
12 |
6 |
3 |
58 |
131 |
1183 |
1314 |
|
Team Charles* |
73 |
43 |
12 |
6 |
3 |
64 |
137 |
1201 |
1338 |
|
Team Charlotte |
80 |
53 |
8 |
6 |
8 |
75 |
155 |
1282 |
1437 |
|
Team Corsa |
86 |
43 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
55 |
141 |
991 |
1132 |
|
Team Ellie |
62 |
36 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
56 |
118 |
1021 |
1139 |
|
Team Julie |
81 |
38 |
7 |
6 |
3 |
54 |
135 |
918 |
1053 |
|
Team Kari |
90 |
34 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
46 |
136 |
955 |
1091 |
|
Team Kate |
90 |
42 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
54 |
144 |
1047 |
1191 |
|
Team Kent |
69 |
45 |
12 |
6 |
3 |
66 |
135 |
1263 |
1398 |
|
Team Laurens |
73 |
37 |
12 |
6 |
3 |
58 |
131 |
1158 |
1289 |
-Laurens.