Enrico Battaglin had his chance to sprint in today’s Giro d’Italia stage seven to Foligno and finished fifth. With Moreno Hofland not feeling well, Team LottoNL-Jumbo supported its Italian rider. André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), however, could not be stopped from seizing his second victory.

The stage began with a fight for the mountain classification points. “The pace was high immediately, but we were expecting that, actually,” Sports Director Jan Boven said. “The peloton broke into six groups and Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk were in the first group. After fifty kilometres, everything was back together, already.”

Changing tracks

Team LottoNL-Jumbo prepared for the bunch sprint, but with a changed hierarchy because Hofland said he was not feeling strong with 60 kilometres remaining.

“We decided to change tracks,” Boven continued. “Enrico Battaglin is able to deliver a good bunch sprint, as well. Jos van Emden reacted on that and brought him to a good position with 1.5 kilometres to go. Enrico had to finish it off by himself afterwards.”

“It was my first time competing in a bunch sprint in this Giro, but it went well,” Battaglin added. “I’m satisfied with the result, but it was a strange sprint with many turns. I think that it was in my advantage, that many of the sprinters had to do it by themselves because of that. I tried to get into the wheel of one of the top sprinters and finished fifth in the end. I’m happy with that result.”

Focussed

Saturday’s stage is going to be an interesting one with the partly unpaved climb to the Alpe di Poti in the final part of the race. “Steven and I went there at the end of January to recon this stage,” Boven said. “We know what we can expect. You have to be very focussed these days. The final 25 kilometres are tough and it’s going to be a beautiful stage to watch on television.”