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Giro d'Italia Stage 7: Alberto Contador makes it through longest day as Diego Ulissi wins

Lampre-Merida rider back from nine-month ban takes tough sprint in Fiuggi

Alberto Contador made it through today’s Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia and retains the race lead, despite dislocating his shoulder yesterday. Diego Ulissi of Lampre Merida - back in late March from a nine-monh doping ban - won the sprint in Grosseto. Movistar's Juan Lobato was second, with Orica-GreenEdge's Simon Gerrans third.

Ulissi's ban came after he tested positive for an excessive amount of the anti-asthma drug salbutamol from a sample taken during last year's Giro, where he won two stages.

But the Swiss federation - the Italian is based in Switzerland and races under a Swiss licence - found no deliberate intention to dope on his part, and he was allowed to keep those wins.

Today, he took his career haul to three Giro stage victories as he rode strongly in the finale following a good leadout from his team mates on what was a tough uphill drag to the finish.

Following his victory, he said: "There are some big sprinters here, so I knew I wasn't the number 1 favourite today, but I had great legs.

"I went early because I was afraid of getting caught from behind.

"This is a special win for me after the difficult year I've had, and I want to thank my family - my wife, my parents and my in-laws - and also my friends for all their support."

At 264km, today’s stage from Grosseto, which took the peloton from Tuscany to Lazio, passing the eastern edge of Rome on its way to the finish, was the longest of the race. What’s more, it was ridden into a headwind.

Following the crash in which he dislocated his left shoulder yesterday Contador’s Tinkoff-Saxo colleagues did their best to support him, including sheltering him from the wind.

But the Spaniard still looked uncomfortable at times on a long day in the saddle, the stage taking more than 7 hours to complete.

Today’s break was swept up on the penultimate climb of a day played out on rolling roads, with an uphill drag to the finish favouring the stronger sprinters.

With Tinkoff-Saxo setting a strong pace at the head of the peloton towards the conclusion of the stage, a number of riders were tailed off, but in the closing three kilometres it was Team Sky who now moved to the front.

At 1.5km to go, it was Orica-GreenEdge and Lotto Belisol, with yesterday's stage winner Andre Greipel, who moved forward, but they joined in the final kilometre by Lampre-Merida who set up Ulissi for the win.

Griepel lost contact in the closing kilometre, meaning the red points jersey goes back to Team Sky's Elia Viviani, who picked up 4 points at intermediate sprints today.

After the stage, Contador said: "It was a hard day for me but I'm happy because I got through it.

"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 past, it will improve.

"Tomorrow is a stage that I was looking forward too. 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."

Rivals including Astana's Fabio Aru, 2 seconds off the lead, and Team Sky's Richie Porte, a further 18 seconds back, may sense an opportunity to exploit his discomfort tomorrow on a stage that has two Category 1 climb - the last 15km long and leading to a summit finish at Campitello Matese.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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bobbinogs | 8 years ago
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Bit harsh, I am not aware that the drug Ulissi used has any performance benefits. It is a minefield for the pros as to what they can and cannot use...and the lists change all the time.

I agree that certain cheats out there should not be riding again but we should accept that some mistakes will happen, like Rogers last year, etc., err, except that he doped early in his career and shouldn't be riding anyway...err...

Avatar
ianrobo | 8 years ago
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A doper won ...

Gatlin won in a PB tonight at the start of the season

Have the authorities just given up now ?

Grasp the bloody nettle, one doping conviction and you are out for life, simple eh ?

Avatar
young_guns replied to ianrobo | 8 years ago
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I have to agree with you on this one! Get tough or stop pretending a slap on the wrist means anything! Has to be iron clad cases but when it is open and shut they should throw the book at them! The riders will really be taking a risk.

Avatar
pamplemoose replied to ianrobo | 8 years ago
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ianrobo wrote:

A doper won ...

Gatlin won in a PB tonight at the start of the season

Have the authorities just given up now ?

Grasp the bloody nettle, one doping conviction and you are out for life, simple eh ?

Salbutamol is hardly a performance enhancer. Should I be banned from club runs on a Sunday if I have an extra blast of my inhaler?

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