Decathlon's top talent edges Visma's British rising star and Lorenzo Finn at Giro Next Gen stage 7

Stage seven of the Giro Next Gen has been won by Aubin Sparfel. The Frenchman from Decathlon CMA CGM had broken clear in the finale with a strong group of outsiders, beating Elliot Rowe (Visma | Lease a Bike) to the win. Pink jersey holder Lorenzo Finn (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) came very close, but fell just short, finishing third.

It took six days for the favourite-on-paper to finally leave his mark on the Giro Next Gen. World champion Lorenzo Finn struck mercilessly hard in stage six and took over the pink jersey from Matisse Van Kerckhove. In the overall standings, the Italian from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe held a healthy lead, and on Saturday he was able to extend it further.

Stage seven was once again gruelling. 3,200 metres of climbing over 135 kilometres, with a passage over the Passo Lanciano and an uphill finish at Piana delle Mele. It promised to be a fantastic battle. Any rivals harbouring ambitious plans might well have been able to put them into action relatively early in the race.

A strong breakaway of seven riders went clear early in the day, later gaining company. But four of them then rode away from their fellow escapees: Niels Driessen (Lotto-Groupe Wanty), Gauthier Servranckx (Soudal Quick-Step), Matteo Scalco and Pierre-Henry Basset (both XDS Astana). It quickly became clear, however, that this wouldn't be a day for the early breakaway.

That quartet hit the Passo Lanciano after 80 tough kilometres, with the gap down to just a minute and a half. That was enough for Rémi Daumas to make the jump. The young Frenchman from Groupama-FDJ leapt away, caught and passed the breakaway, and pressed on solo. The expected fireworks on the Lanciano never quite materialised: Daumas crested first, ahead of a still-sizeable peloton.

In that peloton, things heated up on the descent, with a strong group moving to the front. Scalco was involved once again, but this time joined by Ibai Villate (Movistar), Elliot Rowe (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Aubin Sparfel (Decathlon CMA CGM). The latter two were within three minutes of pink. That gave us five riders out front.

After an intermediate sprint, Rowe, Sparfel and Scalco rode clear. In the peloton — or rather, the group of favourites — it was up to Soudal Quick-Step to chase, since Finn had little support, and Henrique Bravo (third overall) saw the danger. For Finn himself it wasn't dangerous, as he kept the trio firmly in his sights. The leaders, meanwhile, saw their chances growing.

On the final climb, their lead was thirty seconds. A counter-move from Kevin Biehl (General Store-Essegibi) and Alessandro Cattani (Technipes) followed, but had they left it too late? The final climb wasn't especially hard, and the leaders showed no signs of weakness. That's when Sparfel attacked: Scalco, at the front all day, had nothing left to give. Rowe tried to close the gap at his own pace.

The Brit did so with real conviction. He didn't let himself be rattled by the explosive Frenchman and kept him within reach. Behind them, the battle for the overall classification had begun: Bravo accelerated, taking Finn, Mateo Ramírez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Rémi Arsac (Decathlon CMA CGM) with him. That quartet suddenly came storming back into the finale.

But they spent too much time watching each other. As a result, Rowe and Sparfel looked to be out of reach of the chasers. Then Ramírez launched a move of his own, which prompted a counter-attack from pink jersey holder Finn. He surged forward in big strides, but fell just short: the fast-finishing Sparfel rode Rowe off his wheel and stayed just out of Finn's reach.