photo credits @ Giro d’Italia
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) triumphed in stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia today, a Strade Bianche-style stage with 29.5km of gravel sectors, which saw a major shake-up in the general classification, with Isaac del Toro taking the maglia rosa and Primoz Roglic losing significant time after a crash.
The duo were part of a chase group that bridged its to the breakaway on the second sector of gravel, gaining enough time to put Del Toro into the maglia rosa.
Meanwhile, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) won the sprint amongst the chase group, 58 seconds behind Van Aert, while Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrian Victorious), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Egan Bernal and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates XRG) rounding out the top 10 on the stage.
Earlier, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dries de Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R) and Milan Fretin (Team Cofidis) formed the day’s first breakaway effort, while Luke Lamperti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty) chased in earnest.
With 160 kilometers to go, Lamperti and Van Der Hoon managed to make way to the lead quartet, subsequently opening up an advantage of 2:30 over the peloton.
Some 30 kilometers later, the peloton had clawed almost 20-seconds on the leaders on the La Cima climb, a minor Category 3 climb just before the start of the gravel sections.
With 50 kilometers remaining, chaos struck the main field, ensnaring the likes of Roglic and Tom Pidcock, while Bernal, Thymen Arensman and Brandon Rivera (INEOS Grenadiers), Van Aert and Del Toro set off along the gravel roads, later reeling in Groves and Hermans.
Arensman later punctured, while Rivera eventually cracked along the penultimate climb, with Mathias Vacek bridging to the front.
Elsewhere, Del Toro decide to attack on the final gravel sector of the Colle Pinzuto, with only Van Aert able to mark his move.
From there, the stage was be decided on the famous Via Santa Caterina, where Del Toro took Van Aert to the absolute limit but was unable to drop him, with the Belgian taking over along the technical roads of Siena – and on to victory.
