Results Giro d'Italia Women 2026 Stage 7 - Célia Gery takes brilliant late attack win ahead of Lucinda Brand and Elisa Longo Borghini

Célia Gery took a huge win as she claimed stage 7 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia Women on Friday thanks to a well-timed late attack from the peloton with other riders such as Elisa Longho Borghini and Lucinda Brand - catching the day's early breakaway and timing her sprint to perfection.

Stage 7 served up an intriguing opportunity for those willing to grasp it as a long 159 kilometer stage from Sorbolo Mezzani to Salice Terme featured a gradual but long climb that features slight steps and topping at 27 kilometers to go.

Sprinters could see a chance given that the first 100 kilometers are almost pan-flat, but it's breakaway chasers who will hope to do battle on the category 3 Pietragavina climb for a potential stage attempt.

Nonetheless it was five riders who made the early breakaway, including former Paris Roubaix Femmes winner Alison Jackson, Chantal Pegolo, Marjolein Van 'T Geloof, Sara Luccon and Gaia Segato. As their break pulled out a sizeable gap from the peloton, some tried to jump across in small groups of two. Giorgia Serena and Eleanora Le Bella the last pair of chasers to fail in their attempts to bridge across.

At the halfway mark of the stage, the gap between the front and the peloton grew to over eight minutes. The peloton turned up the heat, however, narrowing the gap to less than five minutes with 50 kilometers to go as the gradient began to tick upwards.

But things soon took a turn in the peloton as a huge crash brought down maglia rosa Anna Van Der Breggen, who soon found herself chasing a gap of up to 1:30 to the bunch.

The pink jersey got back on around seven kilometers later, but was left to attempt to recooperate as the gap continued to tumble to the breakaway. Pegalo, Jackson and Segato made it over the climb with a slim margin of just 0:23 but the attacks were coming off the front.

Elisa Longo Borghini made a big attack from the peloton, bringing teammate Sylvia Persico, U23 World Champion Célia Gery and Lidl-Trek's Lucinda Brand with her as the trio caught the breakaway with 20 kilometers to go, but established a new group of seven riders as they forget a gap rising to over 30 seconds.

With the final kilometers ticking by, the leaders began to think about the win as Persico peeled off and Brand launched first. But it was the FDJ-Suez rider who had the better of those at the line, taking her first Grand Tour victory and one of the biggest wins of her career.

Lara gillespie won the bunch sprint behind, just eight seconds after Gery came home, while Van Der Breggen remains in pink after recovering from the crash.