Gritty Bernal third in GC test

Egan Bernal sprinted to a superb third on stage seven of the Giro d’Italia after a fantastic team performance on the final climb.

Bernal was edged into third on the line after a thrilling battle on the summit finish at Tagliacozzo which was won by Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) after fantastic positioning form the Grenadiers gave the Colombian the platform to earn vital bonus seconds on the line.

The 28 year old moves up to 14th overall, 43 seconds behind new race leader Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - Bora Hansgrohe) who finished fourth on the stage.

The early stages of the race saw the Grenadiers supporting and positioning Bernal and Thymen Arensman as Red Bull - Bora Hansgrohe set the tempo to catch a strong break.

With the time gap dwindling and the battle for position heating up as the peloton approached into the final climb, a fearsome 9.3 kilometre ascent with an average gradient of 9.1% towards the top, the Grenadiers came to the fore.

Kim Heiduk and Ben Turner led the team into the Tagliacozzo in pole position, with Josh Tarling and Lucas Hamilton then setting the tempo as the gradient increased.

Other teams fought to wrestle control, but the Grenadiers were able to react with Jonathan Castroviejo able to set a strong pace to deter attacks before a game of cat and mouse amongst the favourites.

Bernal was equal to a number of attacks, closing down two accelerations from Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) before Arensman returned to the front and paced a reduced GC group, setting up the former Giro d’Italia winner to launch an attack of his own and thin the group again.

The Grenadier was caught in the final kilometre and Ayuso timed his counter to perfection, escaping the favourites to take the stage win, while Bernal battled behind to finish third and move up on GC.