Juan Ayuso hits hard! Spaniard wins summit finish in Tagliacozzo but Primoz Roglic jumps into pink jersey

Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia was the first clash in the mountains and the GC riders stayed on each other's wheels even in the final steep gradients. The gaps were small, but psychologically speaking Juan Ayuso has dealt a meaningful blow to Primoz Roglic as he's won the explosive summit finish and eliminated the gap between each other.

The stage began with a strong pace on the starting climb, with several riders trying to make it into the breakaway. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe was keen on covering all moves from UAE Team Emirates - XRG riders however, and so did not allow for a group to go up the road early on.

When one did form itself, the German team kept controlling the peloton during most of the stage, not allowing it to have freedom to fight for the stage win. Nicolas Prodhomme, Paul Double, Alessandro Tonelli, Manuele Tarozzi, Gianmarco Garofoli, Gijs Leemreize and Christian Scaroni formed the front group.

With 41 kilometers to go there was a crash involving French hopes Romain Bardet and David Gaudu, both having gotten hurt seemingly but returned to the peloton. The peloton comfortably controlled the front group and inside the final climb caught it with 5 kilometers to go.

INEOS Grenadiers entered the climb in front, then Bahrain - Victorious took over before the start of the steep section of the ascent which would begin in the final 3 kilometers. UAE then hit the front when the steep section began, but there was hesitation in the final 2 kilometers. That was until 800 meters to go when Egan Bernal attacked, and Juan Ayuso then paced everyone off the wheel.

Ayuso took a strong and convincing win on the first mountain stage of the race, and UAE Team Emirates - XRG sealed an ideal 1-2 as Isaac del Toro sprinted to second place from behind. Egan Bernal was third, followed by Primoz Roglic who jumps into the race lead, ahead of Ayuso by a mere 4 seconds.