After six days of "stranieri" (foreigners) wearing the pink jersey, as Ramunas Navardauskas succeeded inaugural time trial winnerTaylor Phinney, Italian tifosi made a lot of noise to welcome new Giro d'Italia leader Adriano Malori in the charming town of Recanati at the start of stage 7. Italy's famous poet Giacomo Leopardi wrote "The Infinite" from that village overlooking the Adriatic coast from a hilltop.
It was a celebration of the greatness of Italian cycling but the 24-year-old Italian from Parma is well aware of the worldwide impact of the Giro d'Italia, so he kindly answered questions in English while attending "casa Gazzetta" – the booth of the sports newspaper printed in pink every day.
Malori made it clear that he wasn't going to defend the maglia rosa, as he considers today's uphill finish of Rocca di Cambio too steep for him. He hopes to keep the jersey within the Lampre-ISD team, however, as the squad's leaders Michele Scarponi and Damiano Cunego are both in contention for the overall victory in the Giro d'Italia.
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