On an aggressive stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia, Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) was among the four riders to bridge to the last three from the day's breakaway on the descent late in the stage, and with the added strength up front, the attackers managed to beat the peloton to the line. Lucinda Brand opened up first, leading through the last corner, but Gery launched off Brand's wheel and powered to her first WorldTour victory.
Among the late counter-attackers was reigning Giro champion Elisa Longo-Borghini who, along with teammate Silvia Persico, took the responsibility of setting the pace in the lead group with GC advancement in mind. Longo Borghini's been making up time since the stage 4 ITT and she saw an opportunity on the way to Salice Terme, but ultimately the Italian national champ only gained five seconds on her GC rivals.
The breakaway of the day had gained a maximum of about 8:30 over the peloton in the first 90 minutes of racing, and the chasing effort behind them was seriously dented by a crash with 53 km remaining. Pink jersey Anna van der Breggen was implicated, as was most of her team, as well as much of Liv AlUla Jayco and Movistar leader Marlen Reusser. All were able to return to the peloton where Lidl-Trek had maintained moderate pressure with the breakaway still almost five minutes ahead. Reusser appeared to drop back to replace her helmet at one point, and Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) received some attention before her own return, but at the time of writing it looks like most came out relatively unscathed.
[race_result id=9064 stage_id=90180 count=5 gc=0 year=2026]
[race_result id=9064 stage_id=90180 count=5 gc=5 year=2026]
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