Ciao ragazzi! Welcome to live coverage of stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia - another day suited to the breakaway as the riders tackle the rolling 185km between Vasto and L'Aquila. Like yesterday, the stage concludes with a Cat.2 climb preceding some lumps and bumps before the finale, which comes on a steep uphill ramp. Bosh!
Giro d'Italia
Stage 7 | Semi mountain | Men | 17.05.2019
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Completed
VastoL'Aquila
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Live
Live Updates
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Updated 17/05/2019 at 15:57 GMT
And here it is... confirmation that De Gendt won't be up for this one... although Adam Blythe did then say that be could be bluffing!
155km
More attacks coming in but nothing is sticking at the moment. Many people think today's the day we finally see breakaway specialist Thomas De Gendt off the front. We'll see - it may be too obvious for the Belgian...
And here's a great picture of yesterday's two Italian winners - the man who took the stage and the man who went into pink...
165km
It's been a fast start today with the riders enjoying the sunshine and some warmer temperatures than what they have been racing in for the past few days. Vasto was looking resplendent this morning.
175km
Around 20 riders opened up a gap but it came to nothing. Valerio Conti and his five UAE Emirates team-mates are on the front making sure they're happy with the composition of any break that forms - the don't want to lose this maglia rosa quite yet.
180km
The race hugs the coast for the first 40km before the sprint at Ortona after which it heads up into the hills. Some early moves saw the Italian national champion Elia Viviani - who's had a rotten race - try to get in the mix.
Here's the official profile today. The tough stage through the Abruzzo concludes in the hilltop town of L'Aquila 10 years after a terrible earthquake caused such devastation to the city.
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Image credit: Eurosport
185km
They're off! The remaining 167 riders roll out of Vasto to get this stage under way.
It's a sunny day this morning in Vasto - and here's our new look selection of classification winners: Giulio Ciccone (blue), Valerio Conti (pink), Giovanni Carboni (white), Pascal Ackermann (ciclamino) and yesterday's stage winner Fausto Masnada (on the left in red).
Here's the new-look GC with Conti on top and - out of picture - Roglic down to 11th place.
11:35
Yesterday, Valerio Conti moved into the overall lead and Fausto Masnada won the stage as a long breakaway lit up the race on a day the maglia rosa Primoz Roglic hit the deck and dropped out of the top 10.