A quite original stage end today, with 14 kilometers of strade bianche (sand roads) in the 20 last kilometers, of which a first part with a climb of up to 16%. With the rain which fell earlier today, these roads had been transformed into mud roads. At the end, we found a Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) whose rainbow jersey was almost invisible behind the mud.

Alexandre Vinokourov, who was in the same leading group as Cadel Evans at the finish, takes back the pink jersey which he'd ost after the team time trial earlier this week.

The resume of the 7th stage of the Tour of Italy 2010 - Carrara > Montalcino

At 11.38AM 191 riders were at the start in Carrara. After the riders who abandoned yesterday, two other riders decided not to start today: the Caisse d'Epargne leader, Marzio Bruseghin, who didn't start because of pain he felt since his fall in Middelburg in The Netherlands and for Eros Capecchi (Footon-Servetto) breathing problems he had since his fall in Amsterdam were the reason to give up.

After one hour in the race, all attempts to escape had been neutralised and another attempt of 16 riders stayed upfront for only 14 kilometers as well. Finally we had to wait for kilometer 85 where Rick Flens (Rabobank) and Nicki Sörensen (Team Saxo Bank) finally manage to get away from the peloton. In Roncolla, juste after the part of the route which was changed yesterday, the leading duo has a gap of 8 minutes and this continues to increase up to 9'25" before the Lampre-Farnese Vini tean and Katusha Team decide to start the pursuit.

Just after the peloton took back the two escapees, the pink jersey, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo), fell and the leader of the general classification thus stayed back behind. At the same time, just before they entered the sand roads, 5 riders maange to get away from the peloton: Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone), Jan Bakelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Linus Gerdemann and Thomas Rohregger (Team Milram).

Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) joined them a bit later when Linus Gerdemann was taken back by the peloton and Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) also manages to bridge the gap with the leading riders.

While the riders got more and more covered by mud, Alexandre Vinokourov tries to get away from the leading group but doesn't manage to get rid of Cadel Evans. The group is than composed of 6 riders: Stefano Garzelli, Alexandre Vinokourov, Cadel Evans, Damiano Cunego, John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale), David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) and Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia).
Evans, Vinokourov and Arroyo leave the four others behind them just before the end of the sand roads. Back on a normal road, Damiano Cunego once again manages to bridge the gap with them.

The stage win is finally decided in a sprint between Cunego and Evans which is easily won by the World Champion. Vincenzo Nibali finishes 17th at 2 minutes and thus loses his pink jersey to Alexandre Vinokourov.

This was the second finish in Montalcino in the history of the Giro d'Italia. The first time was in 1987 when Moreno Argentin won the stage.

For tomorrow's stage, the weather will be quite hard as well: on top of the Monte Terminillo the weather forecast says there will be a combination of rain and ... snow!

The videos of the 7th stage: Carrara > Montalcino

> Click here to see the video of the last 1,5 kilometers of the 7th stage Carrara - Montalcino of the Giro d'Italia 2010

> Click here to see a resume of the 7th stage Carrara - Montalcino of the Tour of Italy 2010

The classifications

The stage classification for the 7th stage Carrara > Montalcino

The top 10 of this stage shows quite big time gaps and with an over ten minutes gap between the winner and the number 50 of this stage, it will definitely leave some traces.

1/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 5h13'37" (42,089 km/h)
2/ Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - +0'02"
3/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - +0'02"
4/ Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia) - +0'06"
5/ David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) - +0'12"
6/ Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) - +0'27"
7/ John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) - +0'29"
8/ Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - +1'01"
9/ Cayetano Sarmiento (Acqua & Sapone) - +1'07"
10/ Jan Bakelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - +1'10"

The general classification

Because of his delay due to his fall, Vincenzo Nibali falls back from the first to the fifth place in the general classification where Alexandre Vinokourov again takes the lead and Cadel Evans moves up to the second place. Marco Pinotti and Thomas Rohregger are new in the top 10:

1/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - 24h09'42"
2/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - +1'12"
3/ David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) - +1'29"
4/ Vladimir Karpets (Katusha Team) - +1'30"
5/ Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) - +1'33"
6/ Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia) - +1'40"
7/ Linus Gerdemann (Team Garmin) - +1'48"
8/ Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) - +1'51"
9/ Thomas Rohregger (Team Milram) - +1'54"
10/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - +2'00"

The classification by points

Tyler Farrar keeps the lead in the classification by points, while Cadel Evans and Alexandre Vinokourov appear for the first time in the top 10:

1/ Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) - 43 points
2/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 41 points
3/ Graeme Brown (Rabobank) - 40 points
4/ Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) - 39 points
5/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - 39 points
6/ Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) - 36 points
7/ André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) - 32 points
8/ Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 31 points
9/ Danilo Hondo (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - 30 points
10/ Rubens Bertogliati (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - 28 points

King of the Mountains classificationLe classement de meilleur grimpeur

Matthew Lloyd is still leading the King of the Mountains classification in which Alexandre Vinokourov, Thomas Rohregger, Cadel Evans and Jose' Serpa Perez are new in the top 10:

1/ Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 13 points
2/ Paul Voss (Team Milram) - 10 points
3/ Rubens Bertogliati (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - 8 points
4/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - 5 points
5/ Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox) - 5 points
6/ Rick Flens (Rabobank) - 4 points
7/ Thomas Rohregger (Team Milram) - 3 points
8/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 3 points
9/ Yukiya Arashiro (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - 3 points
10/ Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - 2 points

The best young rider classification

Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) takes back the lead in the best young rider classification since Agnoli had to wait for his leaders Nibali and Basso. Thanks to his 10th place in today's stage d'aujourd'hui, Jan Bakelandts enters the top 5:
1/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - 24h11'42"
2/ Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Doimo) - +1'38"
3/ Robert Kiserlovski (Liquigas-Doimo) - +2'05"
4/ Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) - +4'05"
5/ Jan Bakelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - +8'12"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Giro d Italia | Giro d'Italia 2010

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