Stage 7: Civitanova Marche -> San Benedetto del Tronto
Having made their way to the Adriatic coast, the peloton were faced with a traditional final stage of the race; where climbs in the opening part of the stage would tempt the attackers and those looking to make the race tough, whilst the sprint teams would hope to control things in the final flat 80 kilometres for a fast finale. Team Picnic PostNL set out with the goal of setting up Pavel Bittner for the finish, riding well as a team throughout the day and taking responsibility to chase the break. Coming into the deep finale there were a few attackers, but the peloton always had the upper hand and the last attacker was caught in the final kilometre. It was a technical finale, and a crash saw Bittner held up ever so slightly, but he remained calm after being well positioned by the team, and could get back to the front to compete for the sprint. In sight of the line, he produced a good kick to come past several riders and as the sprinters crossed the line abreast, ultimately taking a good fifth place on the day.
Bittner said: “Today was the big sprint chance. The break went early but then Alpecin put on a bit of pace on the climbs so the peloton split into pieces. I wasn’t feeling so good, but we managed to come back together, and then I started to feel progressively better and better throughout the rest of the stage. The lead-out did a really good job in the final, especially Oli and Mattia who chipped in too, so that was really good and we’re making progress there. I was stuck behind a crash with three kilometres to go and had to rely on my instinct because John was stuck a bit further behind. I knew I had one bullet left though and tried to open up on the right side, but I think fifth place was the best I could do today.”
