After winning stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia, Cohen Bouman, an avid amateur fisherman, admitted that he "caught a big fish" in his first Grand Tour win. He also noted that "when two people in a group of four catch something, they are more likely to catch something." Bouman was referring to Jumbo Visma's teammate Tom Dumoulin. He was part of a four-man breakaway group that proved instrumental in helping his compatriot catch the big fish in the hot and mountainous race through southern Italy. For Dumoulin, whose GC hopes were ended on the slopes of Mount Etna, the good result for his team on stage 7 was a great boost to his morale.

Bouwman also expressed confidence that after such a strong fightback, Dumoulin still had more than enough time left to challenge for the stage win until the final Giro time trial in Verona.

Jumbo Visma's victory was not straightforward, despite his numerical advantage in the breakaway. Bouman and Dumoulin suffered on the final third category climb some 20 km from the finish, and Dumoulin cracked on a series of small climbs through the center of Potenza.

However, the breakaway group, which had already been reduced to four riders by that point, again came into contact with Bouwman just before the crest of the final climb, and Dumoulin hooked up again just before the last kilometer, using his steady pace to wear down Bouwman's rivals.

"Sure Tom was forced to reset after giving up the GC, but he didn't have the goal of getting into the breakaway today," Bouwman, who thanked Dumoulin for his assistance on several occasions, told reporters.

"When the break started he was blocking behind me after I left. But he crossed after the two players and we decided to have some fun together."

"I fell off, but the last climb was short and not too steep, so I started to believe in my potential again.

"So I asked Tom to run as hard as he could when I got back. That actually happened and I couldn't believe I won."

Bouman, who started 5:30 behind overall leader Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo), also hoped not only to take the stage win but also the pink as the breakaway's lead stretched to over 6 minutes.

Eventually, the Trek-Segafredo team with leader Lopez closed the gap to just 2:59. Bouman, however, took three of the four mountain prizes, putting him in first place in the mountains.

"There were times I thought about dropping back to ask the coach if the team had a spare size 54 bike painted pink on their truck, but I never got the chance," Bouwman grinned.

"But this blue jersey is a huge bonus. I'm very happy with this win and the memories will last forever. But to ride in the blue jersey tomorrow in the Grand Tour is the cherry on top of the cake."