The Giro, my favourite tour of the year is only 2 weeks....

[Cav']

http://www.steephill.tv/2016/giro-d-italia/photos/stage-07/182824_bazz0357.jpg

['Dale]

Tom Dumoulin is still in pink and tells Italian television that he's going to go full-gas on today's main climb. The Dutchman is not going to hand over the maglia rosa without a fight.

['Dale]

The weather has certainly been mixed over the past week but for now the riders are beginning to line-up at the start with sunny skies above them in Foligno.

['Dale]

Today's stage will take the riders over the famed Strade Bianche. The final climb is part dirt track, and narrow and twisting to boot!

['Dale]

The bunch are about to head through Assisi and the pace is pretty high. There have been a few attempts at getting away but nothing has stuck yet and it's all together for now.

['Dale]

We have the first serious breakaway attempt going off the front after passing through Assisi. Around 20 riders have moved clear of the bunch.

['Dale]

The group leading the maglia rosa group by just 20 seconds. There are two further groups at 30 and 50 seconds respectively.

['Dale]

The 13 riders in that leading group are: Blel Kadri, Matteo Montaguti, Alessandro De Marchi, Moreno Moser, Jaco Venter, Gianluca Brambilla, Matteo Trentin, Sean De Bie, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Jasha Sutterlin, Giacomo Berlato, Nikias Arndt, Alexey Tcatevitch.

['Dale]

4 groups out there now!

 

Tom Dumoulin appears to have missed the split in the peloton and is actually in the third group on the road while Vincenzo Nibali is in the second.

['Dale]

The peloton is now coming back together after that frantic bit of racing so it looks like Dumoulin can breath a slight sigh of

['Dale]

There are a lot of very strong riders in this move off the front and the peloton don't appear happy with the composition. They're still chasing and the gap is just 14 seconds.

['Dale]

The peloton is back together but now we have a group of chasers who have set off in pursuit of the leaders. They are 22 seconds back on the break with the peloton a further 21 seconds down.

['Dale]

The chasers have been brought back by the peloton while the escapees have grown their advantage to 1:38 after 43km of racing.

['Dale]

The advantage to the escapees cointinues to grow out to 1:53. They're not home and dry yet but it is a good buffer.

['Dale]

119km remaining from 186km

 

After passing through the first intermediate sprint of the day, the break's lead goes up to 2:45

['Dale]

Matteo Trentin takes the full points at the intermediate sprint, followed by Alexey Tsatevich and Giacomo Berlato.