Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) is the surprise winner of Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia. The Italian burst into the lead in the closing m to take the rolling, 264-km ride from Grosseto to Fiuggi in 7:22:21. Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) finished second and third, respectively. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo Bank) remains the maglia rosa.

A headwind made the longest stage in any 2015 grand tour longer. An early break was reeled in at 10 km, but Marco Bandiera (Androni-Sidermec), Nicola Boem (Bardiani-CSF), Pier Paolo De Negri (Nippo- Vini Fantini) and Nikolay Myhaylov (CCC Sprandi-Polowice) countered, and the bunch let them go. The gang of four led the field by 10 minutes at 50 km.

Tinkoff-Saxo Bank rode tempo, and BMC, Orica-GreenEdge, and Trek joined the Russian squad at the front. With 70 km left, BMC led the bunch, which trailed the break by seven minutes. The gap narrowed further, to four minutes with 50 km to go and to 1:45 10 km later. With 21 km left, the catch was made.

Tinkoff-Saxo Bank went to the front and accelerated to protect Contador. Alessandro Petacchi (Southeast), Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step), and Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) were dropped. Sky took over with 3.5 km left. The British team led the peloton until Lotto-Soudal took over to set up Andre Greipel. Orica-GreenEdge joined the Belgian squad at the front.

Orica-GreenEdge led the field into the last km. Lampre-Merida challenged the Australian team in an attempt to set up Sacha Modolo. With 300 m to go, Lampre-Merida lost momentum. Ulissi then charged into the lead to take the win.

According to Ulissi, Lampre-Merida was attempting to set up Modolo, with Ulissi being a second option. “This morning, I woke up and said to myself, ‘I have to have a go,’” the Italian said. “I wanted to taste how it is to be in the top ten again. I would have been happy with 9th or 10th. In the end, the sprint went the way we planned. The strategy was that if Sacha [Modolo] was there in the finale, [Jan] Polanc and [Maximiliano] Richeze would lead him out, while I covered the other rivals for the stage. I went with Orica, then I found Gilbert's wheel, but when I saw he was badly positioned, I jumped on Gerrans's wheel. I went from a long way out because I was afraid of being blocked in, and I had good legs, thankfully, which helped me hold on to the finish line.”

Contador, who suffered a double dislocation of his left shoulder in a Stage 6 finish line crash, said that his pain made the day difficult. “It was a hard day for me,” said the Spaniard, “but I'm happy because I got through it, which was not something I took for granted. After three and a half or four hours, I didn't know what to do with my arm, but I hope and trust that as the days pass, it will improve. Tomorrow is a stage that I was looking forward to. Now it's going to be hard for me, and I expect attacks. Now I'm just thinking of resting and putting ice on my shoulder. Then we'll see.”

In the overall, Contador leads Fabio Aru (Astana) by 0:02 and Richie Porte (Sky) by 0:20. Stage 8, a 186-km ride from Fiuggi to Campitello Matese, will feature a Category 2 climb about midway through the stage and a Category 1 ascent to the finish. Aru, Porte, and others will attack, hoping that the pain in Contador’s left shoulder will keep him from grabbing the handlebars properly to respond to attacks. Will they take the maglia rosa from the Tinkoff-Saxo Bank man? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!