Ewan wins Giro stage in sprint; Valter keeps overall lead

<p>TERMOLI, Italy &mdash; Australian cyclist Caleb Ewan claimed his second sprint victory in the Giro d’Italia and Attila Valter kept the pink jersey after the seventh stage on Friday.</p>
<p>Ewan, who rides for the Lotto Soudal team, closed a gap to Fernando Gaviria with about 100 meters remaining and finished just ahead of Davide Cimolai and Tim Merlier.</p>
<p>Ewan, who also won Stage 5, took his fifth career win at the Giro and 50th overall in his career.</p>
<p>“I knew it would be a good finish for me," he said. "Then it was a question of being smart and a lot of team work, too. … It was a super hard finish and I had to go deep to win. My legs were absolutely burning.”</p>
<p>Ewan took nearly five hours over the mostly flat 181-kilometer (112-mile) leg from Notaresco to Termoli.</p>
<p>Valter remained 11 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel overall and 16 seconds ahead of Egan Bernal.</p>
<p>"To pass through the beautiful cities of Italy with people cheering for the pink jersey, I had to pinch myself to realize that it was really me,” said Valter, who claimed the lead a day earlier.</p>
<p>The overall standings could be shaken up in Stage 8 on Saturday, a 170-kilometer (106-mile) leg from Foggia to Sanframondi featuring one second-category climb and an uphill finish.</p>
<p>The Giro ends on May 30 in Milan with an individual time trial.</p>
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