Stage 7 of the 2025 Giro d’Italia was the first mountain stage of the race one of only several in the three week grand tour. Though it was expected to be a day for Giulio Ciccone, it was Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates-XRG) who had the legs to definitively take the win.
Ayuso claims his first-ever stage victory in a Grand Tour. It’s the 14th win of his professional career, and his 6th of the season.
It also marks the 38th win this year for UAE Team Emirates–XRG, and their first at the Giro since Bassano del Grappa 2024—the final of Tadej Pogačar’s six stage wins in last year’s edition.
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who mistakenly was thought to abandon the race yesterday, made the early move of the stage, but it was a seven-man breakaway of Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL), Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) and Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta) that led for most of the stage and, as such, sucked up the majority of the sprint and KOM points.
With 36km to go, the leading group saw their advantage dwindle to 1’20”, and a motivated peloton was on the chase to put their climbers and G.C. hopefuls into position for the uphill finish into Tagliacozzo.
At 15km remaining, both the break and the peloton were on the final climb and the gap continued to bounce around the 1’30” mark. Back in the peloton, maglia rosa Mads Pedersen had fallen to the bak of the group after spending most of the day riding hard at the front. His goal today was not another day in the leader’s jersey, but instead to ride for his teammate Giulio Ciccone.
With 10km to go, the maglia rosa group had fallen to 1’42” behind the leaders, while the peloton had reduced the gap to 38 seconds. At that point Double was the virtual maglia rosa.
7km to go, and the peloton was nearly within spitting distance of the five remaining breakaway riders. The last few kilometers were slated to be the challenge, with a 13% ramp almost at the end.
5km to go, and the day was done for the riders in the break.
With 3km to go, Ineos Grenadiers is back at the front, setting the pace for Egan Bernal, but Ciccone and Roglic were there, too.
Ciccone attacked with 1.3km to go, but Bernal was quick to respond. Inside of the flamme rouge, however, it was Juan Ayuso who had the legs, pulling away to take the stage win. Roglic, who finished less than 4 seconds back, moved into the maglia rosa.
Speaking in the press conference, the stage winner Juan Ayuso said: “This is not only a victory, it’s my first in a Grand Tour. I’ll always remember it, as much as I’ll always remember my first pro win in Getxo [in 2022]. The team came with the ambition to win the Giro, I did too but the responsibility and the weight of the race remains on Primoz Roglic. On finals like today’s, he’s the strongest so I knew I had to be behind him so he wouldn’t take me off guard. When attacks started to happen, I just waited for my distance to arrive, which was more than I usually wait for, and I didn’t have to stop until the finish. Some guys wasted a bit of energy. I knew I had space for a 30 to 45 seconds maximum effort. On Sunday, it’ll be one of the most tense stages we have in this Giro, because you don’t only need good legs, good positioning or a strong team around you, you need some luck also. It can be a very difficult day if you a puncture at a bad moment, all the work of months can go away. I hope me and the team will pass the day with no issues”.
2025 Giro d’Italia – Stage 7 Brief Results
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 4h20’25”
- Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +04″
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) s.t.
- Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) s.t.
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek) s.t.
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) s.t.
- Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) s.t.
- Richard Carapaz (EF education-EasyPost) s.t.
- Max Poole (Picnic PostNL) +08″
- Michael Storer (Tudor) s.t.
The Maglia Rosa Primož Roglič said: “I always want to win but today I still have the Maglia Rosa and I enjoy it. We never know when it’s the last one. I won’t do ten more Giro… I already knew that Juan Ayuso was a fast guy and that he’d be a tough opponent but it’s only the beginning of the Giro, life goes on. I was a bit too far back when he attacked. Jai Hindley was a big loss yesterday. He also won the Giro before. This is cycling, something you cannot change. The guys today were very impressive after yesterday when a lot of them went down so we’re ready to fight for this jersey”.
General Classification After Stage 7
- Primož Roglič (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe)
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG) at 4″
- Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) at 9″
Official Jerseys
- Maglia Rosa, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by IUMAN – Intimissimi Uomo – Primož Roglič (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe)
- Maglia Ciclamino, leader of the Points Classification, in collaboration with Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale and ITA Italian Trade Agency – Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
- Maglia Azzurra, leader of the Gran Premio della Montagna (KOM), sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team)
- Maglia Bianca, Best Young Rider, born after 01/01/2000, sponsored by Conad -Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
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