Mathieu van der Poel caught and passed Matteo Fabbro in the last few hundred meters of an uphill finish to win the penultimate stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico.
Simon Yates’ overall lead remained unchanged entering the concluding individual time trial Monday.
Van der Poel finished four seconds ahead of Ruben Guerreiro and Fabbro.
”It was an incredible stage, much tougher than I expected,” said Van der Poel. ”The team did a great job getting me into the break. I knew I had to go full gas on the last climb before the finish. Fabbro was ahead of me and when I passed him I knew I had won. I am very happy for this victory that I have been looking for since the beginning of the Tirreno-Adriatico.”
Yates remained 16 seconds ahead of Rafal Majka and 39 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas.
Thomas will be favored to gain time in the 10-kilometer time trial in San Benedetto Del Tronto.
”Big day. It is what it is,” Yates said. ”Everyone is thinking Rafal Majka is not a good time trialer but that’s not the case. The race is not won.”
Tirreno-Adriatico 2020 – stage 7 results (Pieve Torina – Loreto):
| 1 | Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) | 4:19:23 |
| 2 | Ruben Guerreiro (EF Pro Cycling) | +04” |
| 3 | Matteo Fabbro (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 4 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +09” |
| 5 | Alex Aranburu (Astana) | +10” |
| 6 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 7 | Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) | ,, |
| 8 | Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) | ,, |
| 9 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) | ,, |
| 10 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
Tirreno-Adriatico 2020 – general classification after stage 7:
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 31:56:02 |
| 2 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +16” |
| 3 | Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) | +39” |
| 4 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) | +49” |
| 5 | Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +57” |
| 6 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +59” |
| 7 | Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) | +01’22” |
| 8 | James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +01’26” |
| 9 | Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) | +02’33” |
| 10 | Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) | +02’47” |
