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

Premsumably he didn't put pen to paper during the stage but UAE Team Emirates have just announced on the social media channels that the Australian has signed a new contract that will keep him at the team until 2027. He was in the top 10 until two days ago when he dropped 11 places to 21st after being held up in that crash 7km from the finish in Salerno.

Lukas Postlberger of Jayco-AlUla edges ahead of the DSM-led pack on this long descent following the plateau. It's not a move as such - he's just a bit bored, it seems, and fancies a bit of TV time. He waves to the cameras and then is reabsorbed by the pack, who are still 12 minutes down on the leaders. The average pace so far today has been 37.944kmph - which is quite slow considering the terrain so far, but understandable given the earlier wet weather.

The Frenchman needs a rear wheel change as the peloton continues along this long plateau. The gap is now 12'35" as they push on towards the second intermediate sprint before the race will really begin in earnest with the long final climbs.

He put them on when the rain was pouring down heavily on the other side of the mountain, but the Norwegian has now decided that he's too hot. Hardly surprising, given the sunshine which is now blessing the race. Incidentally, it's gone from 7 degrees to 17 degrees after that climb.

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) have crashed out of nowhere as the peloton crosses the so-called Five Miles Plateau. It looks like that happened when they were cut up by another rider veering in their path while trying to pick up a musette. Both riders get back on their way pretty quickly, although Riccitello - the youngest man in the race - seems pretty angry about it. The gap, meanwhile, is now pushing 12 minutes for the three leaders.

The inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Series gets underway later today. For the first time, the biggest mountain bike disciplines are coming under the same roof – with cross-country, short track, marathon, downhill, enduro and E-enduro set to unite in 2023. So what are the different disciplines? What is the race schedule? And how can you watch the action? Read on to have all your questions answered…

Just ahead of the summit of the climb two Groupama-FDJ riders edge clear. If it seems an odd move at first the sense of it soon becomes apparent: one of them is wearing a slightly different shade of blue to the standard team kit - and that's because it's the maglia azzurra of Thibaut Pinot. The Frenchman takes the 2pts for fifth place over the top just ahead of his Swiss team-mate Stefan Kung, who pockets the final point. The gap is 11 minutes as the rest of the peloton come through just behind. Pinot is up to 42pts in the KOM standings - 16pts clear of his nearest challenger, Ghebreigzabhier.

Team DSM have dropped back and so it's a mixture of UAE and Soudal Quick-Step on the front now with the gap now a whopping 10'45" as they continue towards the summit of this first categorised climb of Roccaraso. It's followed by a 15km plateau before the descent but already we see many riders donning their gilets and jackets again, as well as pick up musettes of fuel from their roadside helpers.

Davide Bais is a man on a mission. Not content with winning the intermediate sprint, he's just zipped clear of his fellow escapees to crest the summit of this climb with a healthy gap over Vacek and Petilli, the virtual maglia rosa. So, Bais pockets 18pts which puts him into fourth place in the KOM standings. Poor Mulubrhan comes over more than a minute down - but still more than eight minutes ahead of the peloton. It's going to be a long afternoon for him here on in.

The breakaway has been on the 7.3km climb for around 10 minutes now - enough for Eritrea's Henok Mulubrhan to be dropped. The average gradient of this ascent is 6.1% and it's now a trio out ahead with a gap of 9'15" over the pack.

The Czech seemed to get dropped after the intermediate sprint but he's back in time for the first categorised climb. Their advantage is still nine minutes over the peloton, which still has Team DSM on the front.

Yesterday's stage winner Mads Pedersen closes the gap a little at the top of the maglia ciclamino standings by sprinting to fifth place in the intermediate sprint ahead of Michael Matthews, Campbell Stewart and Michael Hepburn. Jonathan Milan was further back and so he stays on 110pts in the standings, with Kadel Groves - who didn't show his hand - staying on 99pts. Pedersen is now up to 87pts after adding 4pts to his tally there. We're hearing that Groves, the Australian Stage 5 winner, is feeling a little under the weather. It's something to watch given his team Alpecin-Deceuninck's two Covid withdrawals so far...

It's largely uncontested at Castel di Sangro as Davide Bais comes to the front of the break to lead them over the line and win the first intermediate sprint. It will be interesting to see how things pan out when the peloton comes over in around nine minutes' time. There are still 4-3-2-1 points up for grabs for the next four riders and Jonathan Milan currently has an 11-point lead over Kaden Groves in the points classification. While it's not yet raining again, the roads at the sprint are very wet. Groves, I add, has already lost two Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mates after Ramon Sinkeldam and Nicola Conci both packed their bags owing to Covid.

It's not classified but it's been a fair slog up this climb, which has lasted around 12km of a persistent gradient of around 4%. Over the top there will be a short and gradual descent towards the intermediate sprint which precedes the first categorised climb, where the racing will really begin. The gap is now 8'45". And here's a photo of our break from a bit earlier today. They are: Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa), Henok Mulubrhan (Green Project-Bardiani), Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) and Karel Vacek (Team Corratec-Selle Italia).

Now only has it stopped raining, there appears to be some rays of sunshine beaming down on the peloton. Make the most of it, lads - it's not going to last! The gap is down to 9'10" for the breakaway as they tackle this uncategorised climb ahead of the intermediate sprint at Castel di Sangro. Team DSM are still on the front of the pack controlling the tempo for their man in pink, Andreas Leknessund.

As a result of the race leaders wardrobe malfunction the breakaway sees it gap rise to a whopping 10 minutes. If that sounds insurmountable then chew on this: because we still have over 150km remaining, the peloton would only have to take back four seconds per kilometre if they wanted to reel in these four riders.

The inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Series gets under way today around the same time today's stage is scheduled to finish and is live on Eurosport. For the first time, the biggest mountain bike disciplines have been assembled in a collection – with cross-country, short track, marathon, downhill, enduro and E-enduro united in 2023. So how can you watch all the action? Read on to have all your questions answered, including the schedule and key dates for the exciting series…

Andreas Leknessund has already been pictured struggling to put on his pink rain cape off the back of the peloton. The Norwegian has now returned to the back to pick up some leg warmers from his DSM team car. He needs to stop to put them on in what is quite a lengthy process. He has a team-mate with him but he'll be a few minutes behind on top of the eight-odd minutes that the peloton already trail the breakaway by. Still, given what's in store, this will mean very little in the grand scheme of things. He'll have to find the right opportunity to take those leg warmers off before the business end of the stage, mind.

Meanwhile, many riders in the peloton take this opportunity to stop themselves - either for a slash on the side of the road, or to sort out their own wet-weather accoutrements.