Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe "didn’t aim for the stage win" on stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia insists team's workhorse

The fact that Primoz Roglic was beaten and gapped by Juan Ayuso in the finale of stage 7 at the 2025 Giro d'Italia has been perceived by some as a blow for the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team. Assessing the stage afterwards however, one of the team's loyal workhorses has insisted that a stage win was never really the target for the team on the day.

Reflecting on the stage in post-stage comments with Cycling Magazine on Blue Sky, two-time Giro d'Italia stage winner Nico Denz analysed his own performance and the tactics of the team. "Right when I needed them, my legs were there," began the 31-year-old German, relatively happy with his level. "Today was one of those days we had marked with a ⚠️, so we immediately tried to take control to avoid falling behind a strong group (with GC contenders)."

With that target of control, Denz was put to work by the team to try and manage things in a relatively chaotic fight for the breakaway early on stage 7, keeping an eye on the riders who'd attacked and making sure there were no serious threats up the road. "No one expected me to chase everything down on the first climb. Once the terrain flattened out, us heavier guys took over," he explains. "Our division of work has been going really well since the beginning."

And as mentioned, Denz insists that Roglic missing out on the stage win to Ayuso is not the blow some might think it is. "We didn’t necessarily aim to go for the stage win; the goal was to let the gap grow gradually," he says of the team tactics in regards to taking the stage win. "That way, you keep an eye on the time differences and ride your own pace on the climbs."