Célia Gery took a superb victory on stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia Women 2026, winning in Salice Terme after a fast, tense finale where the late break just managed to hold off the chasing peloton. The FDJ United-SUEZ rider came around Lucinda Brand after the final corner, using the short uphill drag to the line to take one of the biggest wins of her young career.
Brand had led through the final bend and briefly looked as though she might turn Lidl-Trek’s day into another stage win, but Gery judged the finish better. The 20-year-old stayed calm in the front group, waited for the last bend 200 metres from the line, then came past on the newly resurfaced road as it rose slightly towards the finish.
The stage from Sorbolo Mezzani to Salice Terme was 159 kilometres long and looked like a difficult transition day, not flat enough to guarantee a sprint and not hard enough to force a pure GC battle. In the end, it became both a breakaway day and a tense GC day, with Anna van der Breggen crashing in the maglia rosa, Marlen Reusser also hitting the deck, and Elisa Longo Borghini using the late move to improve her position overall.
Early attacks produce a strong breakaway
The opening kilometres were ridden at high speed, with the bunch flying along at around 42km/h as riders tried to get into the break. The day had enough uncertainty to attract interest from several teams, especially with a chance that a move could survive if the peloton hesitated.
The first major break formed with Chantal Pegolo, Majo van ’t Geloof, Alison Jackson, Sara Luccon and Gaia Segato. They quickly moved more than 1 minute clear, while Ilaria Marinetto briefly chased before being brought back.
More riders tried to bridge across. Robyn Clay and Sara Fiorin went in pursuit, while Giorgia Serena and Eleonora La Bella later formed another chase group behind them. The race briefly had several layers on the road: the five leaders, a chasing pair, another chasing pair and the peloton.
The front five were given a significant gap. With around 120 kilometres to go, Pegolo, Van ’t Geloof, Jackson, Luccon and Segato led by more than 5 minutes, while the chasers were stuck between them and the bunch. The peloton appeared willing to let the move develop, particularly with Segato the best-placed rider in the break at 23:51 down on GC, meaning there was no immediate threat to Van der Breggen’s race lead.
Photo Credit: GettyBalsamo’s points lead shapes the chase
The points classification added an important tactical layer. Elisa Balsamo began the day with a 97-point lead over Lara Gillespie, with only 103 points available across the rest of the race. If the breakaway took all the intermediate points, Gillespie’s path to the red jersey became much narrower.
That meant the chase was not straightforward. Lidl-Trek had Balsamo in control of the points competition, but they also had Isabella Holmgren sitting high on GC. UAE Team ADQ, meanwhile, could only keep Gillespie’s points hopes alive by helping bring the break back and hoping Balsamo failed to score.
For a long spell, nobody committed fully enough to close the break. Clay and Fiorin eventually sat up, while Serena and La Bella continued behind the leaders before also being caught later. The gap to the front five climbed beyond 8 minutes at one stage, making it look increasingly possible that the break would play a major part in the stage result.
The road began to rise as the race headed towards the Ligurian Apennines, and the gap started to come down. The intermediate sprint came before the day’s only classified climb, meaning the breakaway was well placed to sweep up the points and bonuses before the peloton arrived.
Luccon took the intermediate sprint from the break, with the peloton still 1 minute behind. That effectively confirmed Balsamo’s control of the points classification, as the available points were running out and the break had denied Gillespie the chance to reduce the gap meaningfully.
Van der Breggen crashes in the maglia rosa
The stage took a dramatic turn with around 50 kilometres remaining. There was a mass crash in the bunch, and Van der Breggen went down while wearing the maglia rosa. Barbara Guarischi appeared to be the first rider to fall, with Van der Breggen hitting the ground hard on her right side.
Van der Breggen was able to get her chain back on and resume, but the situation was immediately dangerous for the overall race. She was around 2 minutes behind the peloton for a period, escorted by teammates as SD Worx-Protime tried to limit the damage.
Lidl-Trek continued riding at the front, though not at full pace. That created the usual stage-race tension around whether the bunch should slow for a crashed race leader, but Lidl-Trek had already been riding for the sprint and had Holmgren placed fourth overall, so keeping the pace high also had GC logic for them.
The maglia rosa group began to close gradually, helped by the convoy and by SD Worx-Protime’s effort. Van der Breggen was back in the bunch before the key climb, but the effort added another layer of fatigue before the final phase of the stage.
Reusser’s day became even worse. The Movistar rider had already fallen in the first crash and then reportedly crashed again before the climb, stopping by the side of the road. She was able to get going again, but by then she was some way behind the peloton and facing a difficult chase.
Pietragavina climb breaks up the race
The day’s only classified climb, the ascent to Pietragavina, became the point where the breakaway and the bunch both changed shape. The climb was 9 kilometres at an average of 3.6 per cent, but the final 4 kilometres were steeper and hard enough to thin the front group.
The breakaway had already been reduced to around 50 seconds by the lower slopes, and the peloton had re-formed after the crash drama. Van ’t Geloof and Luccon were dropped from the break as the road steepened, leaving Pegolo, Jackson and Segato as the strongest survivors at the front.
Behind them, several sprinters were distanced, but the top of the climb still came 26.9 kilometres from the finish, leaving plenty of descending and valley roads before Salice Terme. Segato crossed the summit first, ahead of Pegolo and Jackson, completing a strong day for the original breakaway.
The descent immediately created fresh danger. FDJ United-SUEZ hit the front and drove the pace, causing gaps, with Van der Breggen not initially present in the front part of the race. Given the technical descent and the fast run towards the finish, that became another stressful moment for the pink jersey.
Gery, Persico, Jackson and Brand form the decisive move
The race reshaped itself on the descent. Jackson was caught by Gery and Silvia Persico, who were closing in on the remaining breakaway riders. At the same time, Brand was active near the front, with Balsamo still in the peloton behind.
By 20 kilometres to go, the front of the race contained Persico, Gery, Jackson, Segato, Pegolo and Brand, with Longo Borghini about to join. The peloton was only 14 seconds behind, but the composition of the move made it dangerous. UAE Team ADQ had two riders with Persico and Longo Borghini, FDJ had Gery, Lidl-Trek had Brand, and Jackson had already spent much of the day up the road.
Persico then committed fully for Longo Borghini, driving the front group and helping turn the move from a late attack into a serious stage-winning threat. Van der Breggen was in a small peloton around 20 seconds behind, meaning Longo Borghini was not only racing for the stage but also for GC seconds.
The seven leaders had 22 seconds with 15 kilometres to go, then 37 seconds with 10 kilometres remaining. The final 10 kilometres followed the Torrente Staffora river, slightly downhill almost all the way into Salice Terme, which made the chase difficult once the gap was established.
Chase stalls as UAE disrupt behind
The chase never quite found its rhythm. FDJ United-SUEZ were not interested in closing it down because Gery was up the road and had a strong sprint. UNO-X Mobility and Canyon SRAM took responsibility, with Human Powered Health later adding weight to the pursuit, but the gap remained stubbornly around 30 to 40 seconds.
UAE Team ADQ also played the finale smartly. With Longo Borghini and Persico in the front group, two UAE riders were able to sit in the chase on Lily Williams’ wheel, disrupting the pursuit at a critical moment. That helped the leaders keep enough of their advantage to stay clear into the final kilometres.
Longo Borghini had clear GC motivation. She started the day sixth overall, only 9 seconds behind Reusser and 11 seconds behind Holmgren in fourth, so every second gained on the run-in mattered.
Inside the final 5 kilometres, the gap was still 31 seconds. Persico began to struggle in the lead group after her work, but Jackson, Longo Borghini and Brand still had enough strength to keep the move alive. The peloton continued to chase, but the leaders reached the final kilometre with 10 seconds still in hand.
Gery comes around Brand to take the win
The finale into Salice Terme was technical enough to make positioning decisive. The race entered town in the final kilometre after a sharp left-hand turn at a roundabout, then crossed towards the river bridge before the key final corner. With 200 metres remaining, the course turned 90 degrees left onto a wide, newly resurfaced road that rose slightly to the line.
Longo Borghini was still driving into the final 500 metres, helping ensure the move stayed clear and protecting her GC gain. Brand then led through the final corner, but she was on the front too early. Gery was perfectly placed on her wheel and came around after the bend to win the stage.
It was a mature sprint from the young French rider. She had not needed to do the biggest workload in the move, but she read the finale well, kept her position and had enough acceleration after the final corner to beat Brand to the line.
For FDJ United-SUEZ, it was a second stage win in three days after Vollering’s victory in Santo Stefano di Cadore. For Gery, it was the kind of win that confirms why she has been trusted in important roles already in this Giro, whether in the white jersey earlier in the race or working on harder stages.
Longo Borghini gains as Van der Breggen survives
The GC story behind the stage win was just as significant. Van der Breggen survived a crash, returned to the peloton and avoided a complete race-changing loss, but this was still a stressful day for the maglia rosa. SD Worx-Protime had already been reduced in numbers, and the repeated incidents forced them to spend energy before the next mountain stage.
Longo Borghini used the situation well. UAE Team ADQ placed Persico in the decisive move, then Longo Borghini bridged across and used the downhill run-in to take time on the main group. With Reusser delayed by crashes and Holmgren also behind, the Italian strengthened her GC position on a day that had initially looked more like a transition stage than a major classification opportunity.
Balsamo’s points classification was also effectively settled by the way the day unfolded. The break took the intermediate sprint points, and her 97-point lead meant the red jersey was out of reach for her closest rivals once those points disappeared up the road.
Stage 7 was a classic late-Giro ambush day. The early break shaped the first half, the points classification changed the chase, crashes hit the GC race, the Pietragavina climb reduced the field, and the descent created the winning move. Gery finished it with a sharp, confident sprint, but the stage had been made by timing, positioning and the tactical complications behind.
Giro d’Italia Women 2026 stage 7 result
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Main photo credit: Getty
