Giro d'Italia 2022 STAGE 9

2022 Giro d'Italia - STAGE 9 preview. One of the hardest mountain stage with more than 5000 meters climbing in the day, finishing to Blockaus with a climb ...

Joao Almeida Joao Almeida Romain Bardet Joao Almeida Richard Carapaz Richard Carapaz

Juan Pedro Lopez faces a big challenge to keep the maglia rosa, with the Spaniard boasting a 38-second lead over Lennard Kamna. But both men will likely come ...

It's clear that they intend to put down a marker today - and so they might: Ineos have won three of the previous four Giri, and the one they didn't win was won by a rider who is now there's in Carapaz. Perhaps aware of this situation behind, Diego Rosa strikes out solo and rides clear of Holmes and Tasfatsion. The Italian was in that long break on Thursday's stage to Scalea where he never stood a chance of denying the sprinters a bunch finish. I think it's going to be the first real GC battle up the Blockhaus. We're going to assess the situation once we're there but in Richard we have a guy that we're all in for. 46km to go: Rosa and Tesfatsion are around 2.5k from the summit of the Passo Lanciano and have 30 seconds over Peters and Sepulveda with Joe Dombrowski at 50 seconds after striking out alone from the chase group. You have to feel for the gruppetto, who would have been aware that a slight turn off the top of the Passo Lanciano would have taken them to the finish at Blockhaus; instead, they have to tackle the long descent before the road sweeps up the other side of the mountain. 22km to go: Rosa's closest challenger now is Dombrowski after the American drops Peters and Sepulveda on this climb that precedes the final official climb to the finish. He reminds me of Joao Almeida in his debut ride in 2020 when he wore the pink jersey for two weeks on his way to a fourth-place overall. Bardet has been looking to push on because the his advantage with Landa and Carapaz isn't huge, and they have done with the steepest sections of this climb. It's then the veteran Pozzovivo who puts in the first atack before Bardet responds with a dig of his own - taking Landa and Carapaz with him. He attacks from the front but the others stick with him - and as they slow, the three chasers return to the fold. A stirring ride there from the Spaniard who battles to 15th place at 1:42 - and that means it's the Trek-Segafredo rider who will go into the second rest day with a 12-second lead over Joao Almeida at the top of the standings. It's going to take a while for the dist to settle on this one.

Jai Hindley of Bora Hansgrohe has officially revived his reputation as a man to win the Giro d'Italia with a narrow victory atop the Blockhaus climb in ...

- Romain Bardet Team DSM, s.t. On GC, Almeida hung on and used his slight lead overall to be in second place by 12 seconds. Yates’ prospects are more permanently damaged than any part of Tesfatsion’s body, however, as his condition (which included a knee bruise) deserted him completely, costing him over 11 minutes to his former rivals. But he avoided the guardrail and eventually remounted his bike to finish the race. His captain Giulio Ciccone faded much more significantly, so López may hang around the general classification for a while. Hindley launched ahead of Carapaz, who almost fought back but ultimately couldn’t, and saw Bardet get past him for second as well.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was among the riders caught up in a big crash during the early stages of Stage 9 at the Giro d'Italia.

Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was among riders caught up in a big crash during the early stages of Stage 9 at the Giro d’Italia.

With only the second summit finish of the race, stage 9 was the first serious mountain stage which many have described as the hardest of the 2022 Giro d'Italia.

Landa, Carapaz and Bardet looked to be the strongest, but a bit of stalling in the final kilometre saw a regrouping and six riders would fight over stage honours. Rather later, pre-race favourite Simon Yates finished 11:15 in arrears – a little after Wilco Kelderman – plummeting to 25th on GC, presumably suffering with the knee injury he picked up on stage 4 to Mount Etna. 500 metres later, Richard Carapaz made the move they’d all been waiting for, and Romain Bardet (DSM) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) – who carried evidence of a crash earlier in the stage – were the only two who could follow. The addition of Peters and Joe Dombrowski (Astana-Qazaqstan) gave Rosa – shrugging reluctantly – a little more oomph, but with 20 km of climbing to go, the Ineos Grenadiers-led peloton was well within a minute. It was a familiar sight as the Ineos Grenadiers lined it out on the front of the peloton, and their pace did some serious damage. After attacking from kilometre zero, a nine-man breakaway finally came together after 30 km and settled in for the meat of the stage, which came about 100 km later.

López narrowly holds onto maglia rosa as Carapaz, Lopez, Bardet, Almeida go on the attack.

Significantly, Jai Hindley was able to make his way back to the front of the race. Only minutes later, Simon Yates also found himself off the back of the pack, perhaps struggling with his knee injury picked up on stage 4. Just under 20km to go, Joe Dombrowski caught and then attacked Rosa, but his lead over the main group was a slim 35 seconds. Tesfatsion attacked Rosa on the descent, but unfortunately misjudged a corner at 36km to go and flew into a roadside hedge. He didn't waste much time, attacking moments after joining the leading three, and worked well with Tesfatsion to lead over the summit. Sepúlveda took the intermediate sprint at Filetto shortly after the 100km mark, where the race clocked an average speed of around 37kph. The gap swelled to 4:30, 35km into the race. The biggest name to land on the tarmac was Pello Bilbao, but all the riders were able to continue, albeit with a few patches of road rash. An initial group set off containing eight riders, with Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal) taking the KOM points over the first climb. His description of the incident caused some to speculate as to whether he may receive a fine and time penalty from the race commissaires. "It's pretty incredible. "I knew it was flattening out in the last kilometres and there was a right-hander before the finish with around 200m to go.

Jai Hindley, Romain Bardet and Richard Carapaz sprinted to the line, for the Australian to take the victory. Juan Pedro López kept the pink jersey by 12 ...

They had a gap on the rest of the escapees and Rosa was first over the Passo Lanciano. He was now ahead of Koen Bouwman in the KOM classification. Since moving to Spain and finding out how to use a computer, he has gone from contributor of Daily Distractions at the 2002 Vuelta a España to editor at PezCyclingNews. I also knew I had to take the last curve in first place. At the front it was all over on the San Valentino for Rosa, who was dropped by Dombrowski. Behind him were UAE Team Emirates and INEOS Grenadiers in the favourites group. Juan Pedro López managed to keep his pink jersey with a strong sprint in the last hundred metres. In the peloton, Trek-Segafredo was in control for the pink jersey Juan Pedro López. The escapees had a lead of about 5 minutes, which brought Felix Gall close to the pink jersey. Before the foot of the Passo Lanciano it became clear that the co-operation in the leading group was not good. Behind Rosa, two chasing groups merged on the climb to Roccaraso (7.3km at 6.1%). This resulted in a leading group of nine. The Austrian was the best placed rider in the escape at 6:48. Jai Hindley won the ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia finishing on the Blockhaus. The BORA-hansgrohe Australian was the best of the favourites group after the 191 kilometre mountain stage and the steep final climb. Diego Rosa of EOLO-Kometa managed take a gap and picked up the most mountain points on the Riomero Sannitico (9km at 6.7%). Giro Stage 9 Race Report: The toughest stage in the 2022 Giro d’Italia so far blew the race apart leaving a top group of six to fight for the win.

BLOCKHAUS, Italy — Australian cyclist Jai Hindley won Stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia atop the fearsome Blockhaus but Juan Pedro Lopez managed to keep hold of ...

Simon Yates was one of the favorites dropped early on and the British rider crossed the line 11 minutes behind Hindley with his right knee heavily strapped. Like I said, it was not my only problem today.” “I was just trying to survive as best I could, actually,” said Hindley, who was runner-up in the Giro in 2020. I gave my all and that’s it. “We need to enjoy every moment.” “I knew it was flattening out in the last k’s (kilometers) and there was a right hander before the finish with around 200 to go.

Natnael Tesfatsion suffered a terrifying crash at the Giro d'Italia after he flew off the road and into the bushes.

He’s trying to get the brakes on, even the back wheel comes off the ground.” “Straight through and over the handlebars for Tesfatsion.” Giro d'Italia

The Australian proved the most powerful on Blockhaus, while Juan Pedro López clung on to the race lead.

With 2km remaining, the front three became six as Hindley, João Almeida (UAE-Team Emirates) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) regained contact. In the peloton, Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) took up the chase and drilled into the gradual gradients, with Trek-Segafredo and Team DSM on his wheel. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider put two bike lengths into his rivals and managed to hold off Bardet and Carapaz to take a career second Giro d'Italia stage. The first attack came with 4.6km to go when Carapaz exploded past his Australian team-mate and set off up the road. Rosa took maximum points over two the peaks and moved within touching distance of Koen Bouwman’s (Jumbo-Visma) blue jersey. Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Juan Pedro López both fell victim to the pace set by Ineos Grenadiers on the final ascent. López, on his fifth day in the maglia rosa, also struggled to keep contact with the group. The Eritrean appeared to misjudge a corner, narrowly missing a metal barrier as he went over his handlebars and into the bushes. Determined to reach the summit first, Rosa bridged across the gap and powered off the front, towing Tesfazion behind him round the tree-lined hairpins. The tears in the Spaniard’s kit revealed bright red grazes, that were quickly patched up as he was nursed back into the main group by his team-mates. Two chasing groups formed in pursuit behind the Italian, with the peloton policing any attempts to join them. With a rest day beckoning, the peloton would first have to tackle two ascents of the unrelenting Blockhaus, the toughest way up saved for the finale.

British rider looking to move up ahead of second Giro d'Italia rest day.

They both did a good job in the first week so you have to look at the positives and continue with what we’ve got.” It’s probably one of the hardest climbs in the race this year and one of the hardest stages. “It’s one of the top two hardest stages and there will be a GC battle.