No Hindley - but no worries for Roglic back in the pink
Even without the help of his injured Australian lieutenant Jai Hindley, Primoz Roglic has ridden back into the lead of the Giro d'Italia after the race's first summit finish.
While Juan Ayuso, the young Spaniard rated his main rival for the title, won stage seven with an impressive late burst, Roglic couldn't have sounded more blase as he smiled about finishing fourth on the day and laughed: "I was a bit behind, but I didn't really fight much."
His ride on Friday was enough to put the 2023 winner Roglic back into the pink jersey he'd briefly held after the second-stage time trial, but the five-time Grand Tour winner didn't seem overly fussed about winning back that big prize either.
Roglic's super domestique in the mountains, 2022 winner Hindley, had been forced to abandon the race on Thursday after suffering concussion amid a mass crash, and it looked as if the Australian might have been missed as Ayuso put the power down on the final Tagliacozzo climb to distance all his main GC rivals.
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe's Roglic, among the select group in the chase, was caught napping but did recover to reduce the gap at the finish to just four seconds, which was enough for him to take the pink jersey from Mads Pedersen and lead Ayuso in the overall standings by four seconds.
"It's only the start of the Giro, the fight goes on, no," smiled the 35-year-old leader.
Asked if being deprived of teammate Hindley's services was a big loss, Roglic conceded: "For sure. He's already won the Giro, but in cycling, there are things you can't actually change.
"The guys today were just so impressive after yesterday because a lot of them went down (in the crash). So we work on."
Among the elite battling on the tough climb was top Australian hope Michael Storer, who battled home in 10th place, just eight seconds behind Ayuso, to move up three places into the top-six in the general classification.
The in-form Tour of the Alps winner Storer, of the Swiss Tudor Pro team, is now 33 seconds behind Roglic.
Isaac del Toro, Ayuso's teammate from the powerful UAE Team Emirates line-up, moved to second overall after finishing runner-up on the stage, while Ineos Grenadiers' Egan Bernal, the 2019 Tour de France winner who's making such an inspirational comeback after career-threatening injuries, was third on the day.
Pedersen surrendered the lead, as expected, on the final climb after his three stage wins but still leads the way handsomely in the points classification after the 168km stage from Castel di Sangro.
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If you'd like to view this content, please adjust your . To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide. The incredible joust in a final had only ever been beaten in length by the five-hour, 53-minute epic between Djokovic and Nadal at the 2012 Australian Open. In terms of quality, though, perhaps only the Federer-Nadal five-set classic at Wimbledon in 2008 could top this, even though these two youngsters were taking the power and speed levels to freakish new peaks. Greg Rusedski, the former US Open finalist, and two-time French Open winner Sergi Bruguera, both hailed it the best match they'd ever seen, while John McEnroe felt the level they were playing at now was the highest he'd ever seen. Federer wrote: 'Three winners in Paris today: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and the beautiful game of tennis. What a match!' But Sinner was crestfallen. 'It is easier to play than to talk right now ... I won't sleep tonight very well, but it's OK,' he said on court. 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