page_title: 2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
section_title: Stage 7
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11 / Stage 7
caption_attribution_description: The Gruppetto towards Rocca di Cambio (6,5 km to go)
context_page_description: The 2012 Giro d'Italia began on 5 May, and stage 11 occurred on 16 May. The 2012 edition began with an individual time trial stage – where each member of the starting peloton of 198 riders competed against the clock – in Herning, Denmark with two more stages held in the country before an early rest day. The riders then travelled by air to Italy, with the race resuming in Verona and a team time trial, an event where each member of a team started together racing against the clock.
  Taylor Phinney held the lead of the race throughout its opening Danish leg; having won the race-commencing individual time trial, Phinney defended it on the following two stages, despite crashing in the closing stages of the third stage after being involved in a multi-rider incident. Phinney crossed the line in an ambulance, receiving medical attention before making his way onto the rostrum. The incident itself was started by Roberto Ferrari clipping Mark Cavendish – the winner of the second stage – causing Cavendish to fall and the rest of the field to stack up behind.
context_section_description: 12 May 2012 — Recanati to Rocca di Cambio, 205 km (127.4 mi)
  The race's first summit finish occurred during the seventh stage, with a second-category climb up to Rocca di Cambio, at an altitude of 1,392 metres (4,567 ft). Although there was only one other climb on the parcours – the Colle Galluccio – the stage was considered hilly, as the majority of the stage consisted of frequent hills and descents, and was run above 500 m (1,600 ft) except for the opening 50 km (31.1 mi). The primary breakaway of the stage was formed early in the stage, when a wave of four riders went clear. Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica–GreenEDGE) was joined in the breakaway by Vacansoleil–DCM's Mirko Selvaggi as well as two riders representing UCI Professional Continental Teams; Reto Hollenstein for Team NetApp and Farnese Vini–Selle Italia rider Matteo Rabottini, with the quartet quickly gaining a substantial advantage over the main field, as they were over nine minutes clear after 27 km (16.8 mi).
  The peloton slowly closed the time down at first, but by the time that the four leaders had gone over the climb and then moved on to the intermediate sprint in L'Aquila, efforts from Garmin–Barracuda, Team Katusha and Lampre–ISD had brought the time gap down to just under two-and-a-half minutes. Rabottini then attacked his breakaway companions, soon breaking clear, while in the peloton, several mini-attacks were established, with Colnago–CSF Bardiani rider Stefano Pirazzi being caught before making a second move while Valerio Agnoli tried to follow for Liquigas–Cannondale. Pirazzi caught up to Rabottini, while Movistar Team's José Herrada and Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre–ISD) caught up to Agnoli, with Herrada later joining the front duo and BMC Racing Team's Ivan Santaromita established an all-Italian chase group with Agnoli and Pietropolli. Several Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela riders attacked on the climb, which in effect brought the main field up towards the leaders, with Rabottini being absorbed back after failing to hold on to the pace set by Herrada and Pirazzi.
  Pirazzi tried to attack Herrada on several occasions within the final 5 km (3.1 mi) of the stage, but he could not establish a big enough gap to get clear. Pirazzi then wasted his chance of a stage victory by making a mistake on a right-hand corner with around 1.5 km (0.9 mi); he overshot the corner and this gave Herrada a chance to extend his lead, but the peloton were closing all the time. In the end, Herrada was ultimately caught with 700 m (2,300 ft) to go where, on the steepest bit of the climb, with a gradient of 10% in places. Lampre–ISD held station at the front of the peloton, with Przemysław Niemiec protecting Michele Scarponi, before Scarponi made an attack on the climb, with Astana's Paolo Tiralongo going with him; Scarponi held the lead until the final corner, when Tiralongo came around the outside of him, to take his second Giro stage victory. With Scarponi's team-mate Adriano Malori dropping off the back of the peloton at the foot of the climb, Ryder Hesjedal – fifth on the stage, five seconds behind Tiralongo – assumed the lead of the race, to become the first Canadian rider to wear the leader's pink jersey. Fifteen seconds behind, Tiralongo moved into second place ahead of Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez.
caption: The peloton, on the stage's final climb to a summit finish at Rocca di Cambio.
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