A fun stage awaits with a series of sharp climbs in the finish. This is what a Giro stage should look like, exploiting the land, scenery and architecture.Stage 7 Review: the stage win for Jonas Vingegaard and in the predicted manner: attacking with 5km to go to shake everyone off his wheel, the difficulty of the slope made worse by a stiff wind that was at times seeing riders climb in echelon formation.If it went to plan the script still had some twists.The first surprise was Giulio Pellizzari who was able to match the Dane. Vingegaard was flustered, turning back several times to find the Italian still on his wheel. The second surprise was that Pellizzari cracked after a kilometre, perhaps no shock but he must have known he was in the red or even deep into a crimson moment and almost stalled on the slope. The third surprise was Felix Gall who darted past Pellizzari and finished second at only 13 seconds behind Vingegaard when the Dane would have been expected to take more time.Only ten riders were within two minutes of Vingegaard. Further down, Damiano Caruso and Egan Bernal lost almost three minutes, Jan Christen over four minutes and Enric Mas close to six minutes.It leaves Vingegaard in the perfect place. Afonso Eulalio stays in pink with three minutes and we saw the Bahrain team work yesterday when they did not have to; this implies they will continue to do so which eases the load on Visma. Plus if Gall was surprisingly close, hes a fragile rider at risk of trouble on descents, in crosswinds, and if not theres the 40km time trial next week where he will certainly lose time. Even better for Vingegaard was not only did he crack Pellizzari, Jai Hindley sprinted away from Pellizzari in the finishing straight rather than tow him to the line. Everything is going to plan for Vingegaard.The Route: a ride out of Chieti and then a spin up the coast to the intermediate sprint. After this the race heads into the hills.the Montefiore climb is 10km at 3.6% but the first half is full of 5-6% and theres a small descent midway you dont see on the profileMonterubbiano is 6km at 5.1% but with plenty of 6-8% ramps, like many roads in the Marche region theres little engineering, instead the road takes the contour of the terrainthe climb to Fermo is 3km at 5% with plenty of 8%the sharp ramp to the Red Bull pointThe climb back from the sea to CapodarcoThe Finish: the profile above says plenty but this is a run past the city walls and then a ride into the old town complete with cobbles and flagstones in town. Having lamented the other day that too many Giro stages finish out of town and dont show off the host towns today does it right.The Contenders: a good day for the breakaway.Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarch) is out of the GC race and good on a course like this. Likewise Jan Christen (UAE) who can focus on stages now, with Jhonatan Narvaez and obvious pick too. Local rider Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-Quickstep) is suited but a win would be a surprise.Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) might be the best suited to the course and the finish but hes eighth overall, he wont get much room to go in the breakaway with the likes of Netcompany-Ineos, Tudor and Jayco needing to contain him. Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) is 11th overall and has more room.Narvaez, Christen, ScaroniCiccone, Sheffield, Van EetveltWeather: sunshine on the coast but rain coming in later with a top temperature of 18C in the hills.TV: KM0 is at 1.35pm and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in 3.30pm for the start of the hills.Postcard from FermoWhat have Jai Hindley, Filippo Zana and Einer Rubio got in common? Theyre all riding the Giro today but if you want a hint: today theyll return to Capodarco.The answer is theyre all winners of the GP Capodarco, a one day Under-23 race held every August. The format is simple, a flat loop to the Lido di Fermo, the seaside, before switching to laps around the town of Capodarco including a climb thats 3.5km long at 6%. On the final lap the race heads for the historic old town and finishes with a wall climb thats got a long section at 18%. Throw 150 riders into this and the strongest emerge; its not the Tour de lAvenir but is selective.Much is made of Italys chronic lack of a World Tour team, and now the looming concern is the next level down is shrivelling too. We have Polti-Malta and Bardiani in the Giro but as things stand on the UCI rankings Bardiani arent going to be eligible for the Giro next year; although Solution Tech is. One in, one out? Yes but Bardiani have brought on young riders like Pellizzari and Pinarello while Solution Tech is more mercenary, hiring riders to score points and probably less sustainable.Where Italian cycling still thrives is the Under-23 scene. The majority of U23 one-day international races are in Italy, plus two of the five stage races with the Giro Next Gen and the Giro della Valle dAosta as well. Italy has 13 Continental teams, second only to China.Its not all rosy but it is holding up. The Italian amateur scene has been so prolific that both the Australian and British cycling federations have created bases to offer their riders a program of racing that they cant get domestically. One reason for the rise of Slovenian cycling has been the ease of crossing the border to race in Italy and find a calendar of events to suit. The most recent winner of the GP Capodarco? Slovenias Jakob Omrzel, now aged 20 and riding for Bahrain.The post Giro dItalia Stage 8 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.