"The hand is badly damaged. You can see the tendon" - David Gaudu's GC ambition takes a heavy blow

The Giro d'Italia peloton wasn't spared of crashes also on the seventh stage with first mountain finish on Tagliacozzo. While Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe had an awful day on Thursday, the French fans must've shedded a tear on Friday. Both their biggest stars in Italy; Romain Bardet and David Gaudu crashed and it's clear it wasn't a soft landing.

The Groupama - FDJ rider tried to go with the best on the final climb, but ultimately it was just a 25th place for Gaudu, 51 seconds down on winner Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates - XRG). The Frenchman was visibly in discomfort with a heavily bandaged right hand.

"The hand is badly damaged. You can see the tendon, it's not great," he told Eurosport visibly shook in brief response afterwards.

"It sucks... I don't know what to say. I don't really know what happened. A rider swerved in front of me, I touched his wheel and I fell. I was focused all day. Pffff. I have no excuses."

Tomorrow will bring another tough test for Gaudu with a challenging Maddalena (13.1 km at 7.3%) climb in the middle and several shorter climbs in the final phase. But for Gaudu, it's gonna be more of a matter of surviving until the second rest day, hopefully overcoming the pain. If his hand heals up well, there'll be plenty of chances awaiting in third week for the 28-year-old.