Giro d'Italia Stage 7 recap: Davide Bais takes shock win as breakaway goes the distance on Gran Sasso

After that stalemate on the Gran Sasso the Norwegian Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) finished safely alongside the big GC favourites to retain his 28-second lead over Remco Evenepoel, while French Stage 4 winner Aurelien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroen) kept his third place a further two seconds back. Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) is in fourth place at 1’00”, 12 seconds faster than Roglic in third.

Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) rose one place to eighth while Germany’s Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Italy’s Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) both climbed into the top 10.

Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) put in a dig in the final kilometre but it was the world champion who eventually led the main field home around 3'10" down and ahead of Primoz Roglic, Geraint Thomas and Thibaut Pinot. It doesn't look like there was any gaps there.

The Italian will also win the maglia azzurra today after winning all three climbs and both intermediate sprints - what a day for the 25-year-old.

It was Karel Vacek who rode on the front of the trio for most of the final kilometre, eager to give Team Corratec-Selle Italia their first win of the season - and himself a maiden pro win. But after Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) put in the first acceleration, Bais danced clear of both riders to take the win. Vacek second and Petilli a distant third.

A life-changing moment for the 25-year-old Italian from Eolo-Kometa who wins a mountain stage on the Giro d'Italia to take the first win of his career.

The three escapees are back together and preparing themselves to contest the finale. One of them will take a first pro win today on the Gran Sasso. A whole one kilometre down the road, Movistar have come to the front of the peloton.

But once again, he fights back - and then rides clear of the Italian duo. Now this is interesting - and wholly unexpected.

The Frenchman's brief cameo off the front of the pack comes to an end. The GC riders at least now look like they are readying themselves for some movement. We can only hope!

After fighting back into contention, Vacek puts in a dig of his own to force a reply from his Italian rivals. Behind, Thomas Champion (Cofidis) rides clear of the peloton - perhaps out of boredom. There's no reaction from the GC teams who have locked out the front. What a damp squib this stage is proving to be.

The Czech youngster digs deep to close the gap and he slowly returns to the back wheel of Bais and Petilli. Is that a reflection on the greater strength of the Italian duo, or does it say more about the mental fortitude of the 22-year-old? It was Petilli who put in the initial acceleration that saw Bais jump on his wheel and Vacek drop back.

None of the GC favourites appears to want to show their hand. They're content to limit losses and wait for another day, it seems. Ahead, the escapees start to look at each other. The mind games begin.

Simone Petilli puts in a few digs on the front as if testing the waters. They still have six minutes to play with but he won't want to experience the same fate as De Marchi and Clarke yesterday, who were caught just before the finish. Vacek, on the other hand, has never ridden this far in a race before and the 22-year-old debutant really has nothing to lose. He is tired, but determined. Then we have Bais, a regular in breaks but someone who rarely finds himself in such a position.

It's a surprise that we have seen so little action in this stage - a surprise, but not overly surprising. We're still very early into this Giro and we have a time trial tomorrow where the gaps could be far bigger than on a summit finish. It's also been a very long stage and the steepest, coldest and hardest part is still to come.

None of the three escapees has ever won a professional bike race before - could that change today? They pass under the 10km to go banner with 6'33" over the pack but having ridden over 200km out ahead of the peloton and with the hardest part of the day still to come.

Soudal Quick-Step have now taken control of the peloton with four riders on the front for their leader Remco Evenepoel. It's Pieter Serry setting tempo with the world champion in third wheel. The gap for the three leaders is down to 6'45" so it's coming down pretty fast now - and the hardest part of the climb is yet to come.

Could the French team be eyeing a pink jersey for Aurelien Paret-Peintre? The Frenchman won Stage 4 to move within 30 seconds of the race summit - and provided he can keep up with Remco Evenepoel (a big ask) he could feasible take over the maglia rosa. But I wouldn't say that was the likeliest of scenarios today, in all fairness.