Giro d'Italia: Koen Bouwman wins stage seven after grueling breakaway effort

Team Jumbo-Visma have had a complicated start to the Giro d'Italia, however today they have changed the course of their race as they set off on the day's breakaway with two riders, and Koen Bouwman managed to bring in a much needed win.

With a day that was heavily hinted as one where the breakaway could succeed, the battle early in the day was heavy, with many riders attacking in the first hour of racing before a group only managed to go up the road on the longest ascent of the day. Tom Dumoulin and Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma), Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious), Diego Camargo (EF Education-EasyPost) and Davide Villella (Cofidis) set off and got the freedom from the peloton to fight for the stage win.

With Poels, Villella and Camargo at some point unable to follow the pace throughout the many climbs the riders went through in the day, it left a four rider group at the head of the race to fight for the stage win. At La Sellata, the final categorized climb of the day, the attacks came thick and fast as all four riders attempted to go solo off the front, to no success as they crossed the KOM together.

In the intermediate sprint at Potenza, Mollema attacked once again, dropping Dumoulin, however the Dutchman returned to the front in the final kilometers to leadout the group which was set to finish in a sprint.

In the final effort, Bouwman's explosivity proved too much, and the 28-year old took the first Grand Tour win of his career. Bauke Mollema finished second, with Davide Formolo third. The peloton arrived just under three minutes afterwards, with Juan Pedro López keeping the pink jersey safe as the peloton rode relatively calmly through the brutal mountainous day.