Stage 7 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia, a 143-km race between Matera and Brindisi, saw a record-breaking average speed of 51.234 km/h.

Held on the plains of southeastern Italy, with not a single uphill section, the average speed for the first hour was 55 km/h.

There was a brief respite from this battle midway through the stage, when the peloton rode hard through the streets of Taranto. But for the next two hours, most of it on pancake-flat two-lane roads (superstrada) with exposed wheat fields, olive groves, and few towns, more echelon, crashes, and nearly identical high pace, the finish on the marshy Adriatic coast of Brindisi The peloton blew through the peloton until ... [Trek-Segafredo leader Vincenzo Nibali admitted that although the wind was not as strong as had been feared, it was molto veloce (super fast and tense) throughout the day.

"It was a little windy at first, but I didn't expect the conditions to be like that. I saw a little movement in the peloton, so I went up on a hunch and saw the Detunink Quickstep was up to something and forming an echelon," said the Trek-Segafredo rider. I was in the lead group with [Jacopo] Mosca, and there were a lot of 90-degree changes of direction. I had to be alert at the front.

Other teams acknowledged that it was a stage where riders were hanging on to the lead pack at the very edge from the 0km mark, or even before that.

"It was a really fast stage," British national champion Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) said after the race.

"But our sign-on time was one of the last, so we were last to get to the start line.

"That's one of the lessons we learned for the future. But we knew we would come back. After that, it was all about running into the wind and following Tao [Geoghegan Hart]. So I was in a good position at the end."

Swift, who took an unexpected fourth place in Brindisi, said he was encouraged for his options in the tough sprints ahead.

While Swift took an unexpected chance, GC contenders such as Nibali and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana ProTeam) found this stage to be one to pass.

"It was a busy day. I got left behind a little bit in the beginning, but then I managed to get back to the front group and was able to lead the rest of the stage," Fuglsang recalled. I had a small crash, but nothing serious. On a day like today, you can't lose a lot and gain a lot."

"All the teams were very focused. If we were caught off guard by the crosswind, we could have had a disturbance on GC," Bora-Hansgrohe coach Jan Valach said in a press release.

"This resulted in a great deal of tension in the peloton. In the first 70 km they faced winds of nearly 30 km/h and the first splits formed quite early. Peter Sagan was in the first group and Rafau Mayka was in the second group, but was able to come back."

Sagan himself finished second in the stage for the third time this year, but he said that after such a difficult day, the group sprint was "chaotic."

"It was a very fast stage, a lot of nerves, a lot of crashes," he said. Everyone did a great job today and we were in good position in the sprints. We were so close to winning, but today was not one of those days," Sagan said.

But for record speed, stage 7 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia was the only day that mattered.

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