The mountains are nearly upon us once again, but first comes the final hilly stage of the race. 6 categorised climbs make up the road between Codogno and Casteggio. With the final climb 21km from the finish, a peloton which expects Wikipedia to do all the work, and a Wikipedia team who don't need to do any work - this stage has breakaway screaming all over it. And with the King of the Mountains classification so close, if someone who has scored already can infiltrate the breakaway, it could be a very lucrative day for them.
Surprise surprise, there are attacks from the start.
17th overall Thomas Faiers is an interesting involvement in the move of 8 that leads as the intermediate sprint arrives - Teodoro Costagli taking the 6 points and bonus seconds, for all that that is worth at this stage.
But still the peloton are close behind and this group are not going to be able to stay clear longer into the stage.
The next attack involves 10 riders, and this time the breakaway has been formed.
Brian Vandborg Wilson Marentes Jetse Bol Leopold König Kevin Fouquet Ramon Sinkeldam Mauro Facci Taylor Tolleson William Walker John Degenkolb
This time the standout rider in the move is Leopold König. He is the best placed at 20th overall, already has a 2nd place stage finish in the race, and is just 7 points off the lead in the King of the Mountains competition.
There is 10 on offer at the top of the first climb, and so for the first time since Stage 8, we will have a change of leadership of the Blue KoM jersey!
Casso delle Gorazze
Total
1
Leopold König
10
43
2
William Walker
8
8
3
Taylor Tolleson
6
15
4
Jetse Bol
4
4
5
Ramon Sinkeldam
2
2
Degenkolb, Marentes and Fouquet were dropped from the break towards the top, but keep chasing and remain close over the next two climbs.
These climbs are notable for two failures by Konig - who attacked early for both, and then relaxed - only to then find himself overtaken by others who simply relayed back up to him and past.
Colle Casella
Total
1
Jetse Bol
5
9
2
Leopold König
3
44
3
Ramon Sinkeldam
1
3
Colle di Fontanese
Total
1
Ramon Sinkeldam
6
9
2
Jetse Bol
4
13
3
Leopold König
2
46
Onto the descent and as we already move into the final 60km of the stage, their lead is up to 9 minutes and looking quite promising. Degenkolb, Marentes and Fouquet have also successfully manage to catch them up again.
Crash in the peloton!
It's triple stage winner Daniele Bennati!
Stage winner Jocelin Maillet also goes down in a separate incident.
Back to the break and Konig finally wins another climb.
Monte Albertini-Pizzofreddo
Total
1
Leopold König
5
51
2
Brian Vandborg
3
3
3
Jetse Bol
1
14
But yet another crash over the top, as veteran Mauro Facci is next to get a feel of the tarmac.
As the peloton climbed up Monte Albertini-Pizzofreddo, Puma-Sap tried to bring Bennati back into contact. 5 riders were sent back to support Bennati, with Maillet in the group aswell. Nuyens remained in the peloton, while Bol is in the breakaway and Minard is further behind on the road after an earlier puncture.
They come close to regaining contact but there are concerns about Bennati's potential injuries as he laboured on the wheel of Kvist at the back of the group. They didnt quite join up, and the chance was gone - the gap opening up on the descent, the peloton won't be seen again.
Climb number 5, and another win for Konig.
Monte Canetto
Total
1
Leopold König
5
56
2
William Walker
3
11
3
Jetse Bol
1
15
The stage win is definately going to the breakaway today, which is gutting for Mauro Facci. He has a decent sprint on him, but hasnt recovered after his crash, and trails the group by 3 minutes.
Clearly the best sprinter in there is John Degenkolb, but Taylor Tolleson also has a fast finish on him. The American won 3 times last season as he helped Heineken-California Giant on the way to promotion.
The break pass through the final climb of the day, and Konig messes up to again miss maximum points. Still, he has built up an 18 point lead in the King of the Mountains competition which is a good reward for a day's work - and more could still be to come in terms of GC gains and a stage position!
Montalto Pavese
Total
1
William Walker
6
17
2
Ramon Sinkeldam
4
7
3
Leopold König
2
58
Kevin Fouquet was distanced on the climb and crucially, just as they reached the summit, so was John Degenkolb!
And with this being the final hill, it almost seemed as if the peloton were going to do nothing today. Wrong.
Diego Ulissi is the spark to light the bonfire, as Yuri Trofimov, Dimitri Claeys and Vincenzo Nibali set off in pursuit.
Angel Madrazo, Riccardo Ricco and Taylor Phinney follow. Spotting the danger, Simon Spilak then scrambles across.
There's then a pause before further moves from Sergio Luis Henao Montoya, Romain Sicard, Emanuele Sella, Markus Fothen and Nico Keinath - but they've let the gap go.
Here are the gaps amongst them as they end the climb and go into the descent.
+ 30
+ 1'35
+ 1'52
+ 2'12
Trofimov
Ricco
Sella
Keinath
Peloton
Claeys
Spilak
Sicard
Henao Montoya
Fothen
Ulissi
Phinney
Velits
Nibali
Kiserlovski
Madrazo
Kohl
Eastman
Efimkin
…
A powerful trio in the 'lead' could really help Trofimov - as not for the first time there is suggestions of a poor Festina relationship between Ulissi and Fothen, as the Italian rides against his team leader. Hills are Fothen's one slight weakness compared to his GC rivals, and this is being exploited again today.
The breakaway are entering the final 10km, and Degenkolb is fighting hard to catch up. Naturally the rest of the break don't want to see him back, and now König launches an attempt for solo glory!
Phinney's group catches up with Trofimov's but the gaps to the chasing duos behind, and the peloton, remain.
König's attempt failed, and Degenkolb is closing in...
Fothen, Eastman, Kiserlovski and Velits are leading the peloton. They trail the Phinney group by 1'20 - which shows they are reducing that gap - and they still have over 10km left to close it down further.
In the breakaway, König tried yet another move but is caught. The rest of the group line up behind Bol: Tolleson, Sinkeldam, Marentes, Walker, Vandborg and Degenkolb.
A perfect position for Tolleson maybe - but dangerman Degenkolb has finally made contact again.
Riccardo Ricco is pushing hard to keep the elite group of GC attackers clear. He stands to gain time on Sicard, Keinath and Fothen who are all above him overall. The group has also now picked up Facci.
Jetse Bol launches the sprint for stage victory - the worst position to be in, you would think his Puma teammates would have taught him about positioning! It is quickly clear that John Degenkolb has given too much energy to make it back to the front group and he immediately struggles - as does Leopold König who is further behind him already.
Ramon Sinkeldam leads into the final kilometre, tracked by Wilson Marentes, but Taylor Tolleson has now started his sprint and is closing.
There really is no competition for the American, and Taylor Tolleson takes an emphatic Giro stage victory for the Heineken team!
It is 2nd for Sinkeldam, while Marentes earns another stage podium for Hollister in 3rd. Walker is 4th, and Bol 5th.
6th for Vandborg, 7th for Degenkolb and 8th for König - while Fouquet will take 9th 3 minutes later.
With 3.4km to go, Sella and Sicard have managed to close down the gap to the Phinney group infront of them!
It was a great effort by them, but immediately they are blown back out again as the sprint opens up.
Keinath and Henao Montoya find themselves caught by the peloton, and now must join Fothen and others in putting their faith in the faster finishers of this group to limit their time lost.
Diego Ulissi sprints to 10th, but hasnt built up a big enough gap on the rest of the group - so could have added more damage to his team leader here.
Sicard and Sella would have lost time for sure, but Mauro Facci has managed to put himself in the middle of that group - perhaps through tiredness rather than choice, but it could be crucial for his team leader, as we await official gap information.
Behind the S-duo, Santo Anza, Damiano Caruso and Maciej Paterski lead in the peloton.
And controversially, NO gaps have been awarded. Ulissi's time of 4'54 behind Tolleson will count for all riders in the peloton behind him. A lucky escape for some!
Meanwhile, those near 5 minutes gained lift Leopold König up 9 places to 11th overall - now making him the best placed Milka rider. It also reduces Wikipedia's teams classification lead over Milka.
The peloton had been reduced to just 61 at the finish, the rest of the field - including Bennati - trailling in some time later. Once again there have been 198 starters and 198 finishers.
1
Taylor Tolleson
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
3h56'26
2
Ramon Sinkeldam
Project 1t4i
s.t.
3
Wilson Marentes
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
4
William Walker
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
5
Jetse Bol
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
6
Brian Vandborg
Team B&O
s.t.
7
John Degenkolb
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
8
Leopold König
Milka - AVG
s.t.
9
Kevin Fouquet
Koenigsegg
+ 3'30
10
Diego Ulissi
Festina-Canal+
+ 4'54
11
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
s.t.
12
Riccardo Ricco
Team Bacardi
s.t.
13
Yuri Trofimov
Koenigsegg
s.t.
14
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
s.t.
15
Angel Madrazo
Santander
s.t.
16
Dimitri Claeys
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
17
Vincenzo Nibali
UBS - BMC
s.t.
18
Mauro Facci
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
19
Romain Sicard
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
20
Emanuele Sella
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
21
Santo Anza
Koenigsegg
s.t.
22
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
23
Maciej Paterski
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
24
Matteo Rabottini
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
25
Carlos Betancourt
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
26
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Bacardi
s.t.
27
Kristjan Koren
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
28
Tim Kennaugh
Pendleton's
s.t.
29
Fabio Taborre
Cisco Cycling Team
s.t.
30
Nick Nuyens
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
31
Elia Favilli
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
32
Gianpaolo Caruso
Cisco Cycling Team
s.t.
33
Aleksandr Efimkin
Cisco Cycling Team
s.t.
34
Matteo Trentin
Project 1t4i
s.t.
35
Gianluca Brambilla
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
36
Martin Hacecký
Team B&O
s.t.
37
Chris Anker Sørensen
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
38
Peter Velits
Project 1t4i
s.t.
39
Ben Gastauer
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
40
Ion Izagirre
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
41
Markus Fothen
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
42
Thibaut Pinot
Wikipedia
s.t.
43
David López Garcia
Santander
s.t.
44
Fabio Duarte
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
45
Yonathan Monsalve
Hollister Pro Cycling
s.t.
46
Tim Dees
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
47
Jelle Wallays
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
48
Matea Kvasina
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
49
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Milka - AVG
s.t.
50
Moris Possoni
Cisco Cycling Team
s.t.
51
Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan
Project 1t4i
s.t.
52
Bernhard Kohl
Pendleton's
s.t.
53
Ryan Eastman
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
Thomas De Gendt
Coen Vermeltfoort
Martin Hacecký
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Mickaël Delage
Johannes Frohlinger
Petar Panayotov
Johann Tschopp
Michal Kwiatkowski
Wilson Marentes
Francisco José Terciado
Elia Favilli
Thomas Faiers
Tyler Brandt
Brian Vandborg
William Walker
