Thoughts are with Claudia Cretti (Valcar PBM) who suffered such a horrific, high-speed crash on stage 7, wishing her the speediest and fullest of recoveries from her injuries.
Grazie a tutte le persone che sono state vicine a Claudia Cretti con il pensiero nelle ultime ore.
Le compagne di… https://t.co/mmvxhfayf5— UAE Development Team (@uaedevo_team) July 7, 2017
In racing terms, it was a day for the breakaways, with surprisingly little action for the overall for such a tough (and fearsomely hot) stage. The weather, speed and terrain saw off another nine riders as either DNFs or DNSs.
Cylance Pro Cycling were determined to stamp their authority on the race, even if they’d lost Krista Doebel-Hickock overnight. New Spanish champion Sheyla Gutierrez was attacking straight away with Aromitalia’s Nicole Nesti.
The next significant move was from Dani King, with the British rider eeking out over 30 seconds before the peloton slammed the door shut.
Eventually, with the riders having blazed along at over 40kms/h, a thirteen-rider group was allowed to go, featuring those who would go on to contest the stage win. Sunweb’s Sabrina Stultiens took the intermediate sprint ahead of Alison Jackson (BePink-Cogeas) on 89 kilometers, with Chloe Hosking having dropped out of the escape.
Lensworld-Kuota’s Tatiana Guderzo took the QOM for the day, with the climb of Passo Serra giving the main field the chance to split things up a bit. A group of the major contenders for the overall got away, and it was then an ebb-and-flow, nip-and-tuck chase to the line; the gap stretched and contracted. With 45” advantage inside two kilometers to race, it was finally clear the break would have it.
VICTORIA en #girorosa Tanto trabajo ha tenido la mejor recompensa. Gracias a todos y sobre todo a @RattoRossella por ayudarme . BRAVE! pic.twitter.com/nBv1WI7ML1
— Sheyla Gutierrez Ruiz (@Sheyarcoiris) July 6, 2017
In the dozen-strong dash for the line, new Spanish champion Sheyla Guttierrez threw herself across first to continue a fine season with a first World Tour win.
The overall contenders came home less than a minute later with Anna Van Der Breggen keep the maglia rosa, probably surprised that she was not put under any more sustained pressure.
Stage 7 Result, Isernia-Baronissi, 141.8kms
1 Sheyla Gutierrez (Cylance Pro Cycling) 3hrs 43’ 16”
2 Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini)
3 Eugenia Bujak (BTC City Ljubljana)
4 Alexis Ryan (Canyon SRAM)
5 Lauren Kitchen (WM3 Pro Cycling)
6 Sabrina Stultiens (Team Sunweb)
7 Alison Jackson (BePink Cogeas)
8 Tatiana Guderzo (Lensworld-Kuota)
9 Carmela Cipriani (Conceria Zabri-Fanini-Guerciotti)
10 Clara Koppenburg (Cervélo-Bigla) all same time
Overall After Stage 7
1 Anna Van Der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) 15hrs 37′ 14”
2 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) + 1′ 03”
3 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) + 1′ 39”
4 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) + 3′ 11”
5 Amanda Spratt (Orica-Scott) + 3′ 32”