Giro d’Italia 2013 – Stage 7: San Salvo – Pescara, 177km. Adam Hansen Solo!

Known as one of the strongmen of the peloton, today Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) shook off the company of his five breakaway companions one by one and battled hard in the pouring rain and on glacial road surfaces to take a fantastic solo win on the Giro d’Italia’s seventh stage, finishing over a minute clear of the small group led in by Italy’s Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole) and Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini).

The Aussie rider, a “big unit” in the World Tour and hugely respected as a team player and lead-out engine extraordinaire is nevertheless a softly-spoken, modest and shy man.

He had identified today’s route and distance as suiting a long break and figured such a move had the potential to stay away – not such a common occurrence these days – but despite the calculations and planning that he put into his ride today, he still looked at the same time astounded and delighted as he freewheeled over the line to take the biggest professional win of his career, and in his fifth appearance at the Giro.

A pro since 2007, Adam is more comfortable away from the spotlight, working for the team and doing what he can to ensure wins for his colleagues. He’s no stranger to success himself, winning the Ster Elektrotoer 2.1 Stage Race in 2010 and the Australian Time Trial Championships two years before that, but Adam’s value to his team lies in the power and organisation he can bring to the sprint train – particularly in his beloved grand tours, not to mention that his off-beat sense of humour and imaginative Tweeting is good for team morale.

Back in early 2010 when we spoke to Adam, he was looking forward to working with HTC-Columbia team-mate Andre Greipel more, and their friendship and working partnership has only become stronger since then, with Adam playing a large part in each of Andre’s three stage wins at the Tour de France last year; there’s no doubt his team will be absolutely chuffed for him today and will make sure he’s a little spoilt on his 32nd birthday tomorrow.

Adam got into the hard-won break which began around 29km into the race and took some strong riding by the six for over 30km to establish, before the peloton relaxed sufficiently and allowed the lead to stretch out to around seven minutes, but as the weather closed in and the hills took their toll Adam rode his fellow escapees off his wheel one by one, each of them eventually being caught by the chasers and spat out the front group.

Meanwhile behind the steady and stable Australian, Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini) was very active in the finale once again – his team clearly able to see the sense in controlling the break’s lead with both Di Luca and Mauro Santambrogio in such great shape, but the greasy roads were proving a challenge to some of the best bike handlers and descenders in the game.

Last man in the break to cling onto Adam’s wheel until 20km to go, Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) locked up his rear wheel and bounced off the kerb, upending himself and sending spectators and police marshals running, then crashed again a few k’s later, fellow breakaway rider Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) needed seven stitches later to a sliced elbow, master downhiller Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) simply lent over a little too far over on a left hand bend and thumped down on his hip, but had gained enough time on his group to quickly get back on his bike and back into his group, only losing a few places.

But it was the tumble that Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky)  took with around five km to go which raised the commentators’ excitement level and woke the cat. Wiggins was up on his feet quickly but then rode the remainder of the descent in slow motion losing even more time to his main rivals, clearly unsettled – as anyone would be – but also unwilling to take any more risks, particularly with the time trial tomorrow and a chance to jump back up the General Classification a genuine possibility.

He’ll be towards the top of the TT finish sheet tomorrow, but it wouldn’t surprise us if today’s events have taken a little out of him and he’s not the stage victor.

The beauty of stage racing – no two days are the same, and in this Giro nothing is predictable.

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Result - Giro d'Italia 2013 - Stage 7: San Salvo - Pescara, 177km