Bouwman powers to first victory in Grand Tour

TOM Dumoulin helped Koen Bouwman claim his first career Grand Tour victory from a breakaway as Jumbo-Visma’s switch to target stage wins delivered quick results on stage seven of the Giro d’Italia.

After a brutal day in southern Italy, in which the peloton tackled a rolling stage featuring 4,500 metres of climbing at an often relentless pace, Bouwman had the power to ride clear of Bauke Mollema and Davide Formolo on the short, sharp climb to the line.

Three days after losing nine minutes on Mount Etna to show he is not in shape to contend for the overall title this year, 2017 Giro winner Dumoulin played a key role in his team-mate’s victory before rolling over the line in fourth place.

They finished just under three minutes ahead of the chasing peloton with no major splits between the overall contenders, meaning that Juan Pedro Lopez retains the pink jersey.

Britain’s Simon Yates sits fourth, one minute 42 seconds down and the best placed of the overall favourites.

Though ranked as a mediummountain stage, this day would have felt worse than many of the big climbs still to come given the unrelenting terrain on the 196km road from Diamente to Potenza.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Bouwman. “It was such a hard day. Tom did a superb job in the last two kilometres and I found myself feeling quite good.

“One time on the climb I had trouble but I was confident for the sprint. It was steeper than I thought when I started my sprint but I had so much power left.”