Giro D'Italia 2016: Stage 9 Results, Latest Standings and Highlights
Primoz Roglic of LottoNl-Jumbo grabbed his first stage win of the 2016 Giro d'Italia on Sunday, clocking the best time in the second time trial of this year's race. The Slovenian beat Matthias Brandle of IAM Cycling by 10 seconds.
Etixx-Quick-Step's Gianluca Brambilla successfully defended his lead in the overall standings, although his advantage is down to just a single second heading into the second rest day. Most of the top GC contenders didn't lose too much time, with the exception of Katusha's Ilnur Zakarin, who fell twice and lost minutes on his rivals.
Here’s a look at the stage results, courtesy of Sky Sports Cycling:
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The current overall standings:
Recap
The second time trial of this year’s Giro was expected to be a spectacular one, as the local course in Chianti looked anything but flat and featured plenty of twists and turns that would favour the brave.
To make matters worse, the Giro lived up to its reputation for dreadful weather conditions, via cycling writer Michael Hutchinson:
The tricky conditions had an impact early, as the heavier, more powerful riders couldn’t use their full power on the slippery roads. Fabian Cancellara of Trek-Segafredo, the time trial expert racing in his final Giro, only managed the fourth-best time among the earlier starters, behind Roglic, who spent the bulk of the day in the hot seat.
Cancellara had another explanation for his slower time, per Eurosport UK TV (h/t Hutchinson):
Roglic impressed in Stage 1 and once again looked strong on Sunday, going particularly fast in the final sector to finish with a time of 51:45.
But the major battle would take place toward the end of the afternoon, as the main contenders for the general classification had the chance to deliver a big blow to their rivals ahead of the second rest day and the first stages in the high mountains.
Former maglia rose wearer Tom Dumoulin of Etixx-Quick-Step needed a big performance after Saturday's disaster, but the Dutchman only managed the fifth-fastest time at the first intermediate. His time was only marginally better than Sky's Mikel Landa, a bad sign if he still had any hopes of reclaiming the overall lead.
He would finish nearly two minutes behind the eventual winner, a thoroughly disappointing performance.
Further back, Alejandro Valverde of Movistar continued his fine form, going two seconds faster than Astana's Vincenzo Nibali at the second intermediate. Zakarin was just two seconds faster than the Spaniard Valverde at the split, and a fall saw him lose time in the final sector.
Leader Brambilla passed the second split trailing by just 1:22, and thanks to the Russian's tumble, the Italian had a real chance to keep the top spot in the standings.
Tinkoff's Rafal Majka lost almost three minutes on Roglic, and his bid to win the Giro already looks over, while Rigoberto Uran of Cannondale lost over four minutes. The Colombian is a climbing expert and was expected to lose time on Sunday, but four minutes is a huge gap to overcome.
Nibali lost little over two minutes on Roglic, an acceptable result for the Italian all-rounder, and the Shark of Messina gained 11 seconds on Valverde, who faded during the second half of the stage. LottoNl-Jumbo's Steven Kruijswijk also didn't lose too much time, but Zakarin did following yet another crash in the final corner. Eurosport's Felix Lowe predicted the spill—it was just the kind of day the Russian was having:
Zakarin was thought to be among the GC riders' better time-trialists, and he really couldn't afford to lose well over a minute on Nibali and Valverde before the stages in the high mountains.
The peloton will rest up on Monday, but Tuesday’s stage will be a tough one. While the ride to Sestola won’t feature any lengthy climbs, the riders will still spend most of the day out of the saddle, and the summit finish could lead to some late fireworks.
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