Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another great day of cycling here in Italy! Stage number 9 of the Giro awaits us - and it's a record breaking stage in some sense. First of all, it's the longest one of week 2, being one of three stages with a length of more than 200 kilometers. Secondly, it's the stage with the highest total elevation gain so far, with 40m more climbing to do than yesterday. Which leads us to the third point: with two category 2 and another first category mountain on the menu, there are more points at stake than in any previous stage!
But although we have to wait until almost half way into the race to see the first KoM sprint, the stage takes off with a first climb. Today's start line is in Benevento, meaning "good event" in English - what a better name could there be for a Giro host location? Well, given that the city with its 60,000 inhabitants lies in a zone of high earthquake risk, maybe it's still not that great... But when the ground isn't shaking, you should go and see the Golden Gate (also known as the Arch of Trajan), one of the most popular monuments in Italy.
Or you go hiking or biking in the Apennines - which is exactly what the riders will be doing right away from the start. A 30km extra lap leads us up to Pesco Sannita, before the riders come back here and then leave the town southwards. The only more or less 10km flat section of the day will await them, before they attack another uncategorized climb, whose hilltop is somewhere in between Grottolella and Montefredane.
After another descent and a false flat to Serino, we'll finally attack the first category 2 climb of the day, leading us up to Monte Terminio. After the top - 96km will be covered by then - there will be a 20km downhill to gain back some forces, before the 1st category climb to Colle Molella awaits them. But the KoM after 125km isn't the end of the climb; after a very short descent to Lago Laceno, we'll then climb up to today's highest point on Serro Tondo.
We'll then see today's intermediate sprint right after the descent, in Lioni, with still about 60 kilometers to go. The riders will continue in direction of the start location, riding through the hills of the Appennino Campano, to finally arrive in Pratola Serra.
From there, we'll start the final categorized climb of the day, the Passo Serra. It isn't too long, but with just 9 kilometers to go from the top, it may well be decisive! A short downhill and an even shorter uphill later, we'll know today's winner in San Giorgio del Sannio! And maybe he'll even get to smoke a victory cigar produced here, as the city is an important center in the tobacco industry? Well, probably not - but maybe a glass of regional wine? We'll see.
Start and finish lines are separated by about 10 kilomters only - but the riders do have more than 200 tough kilometers ahead of them. Who can come out victorious after this hard stage? An escapee again, for the seventh time in a row? Or one of the GC favorites, given the huge amount of climbing involved?
The bookies can't really decide between puncheurs and allrounders. They once again see Spilak and his top domestique Talansky on top, sandwiching Taaramäe on the first spots. Arndt and Barguil are rather on the climber side, whereas Izagirre is definitely a puncheur. The four final positions mainly go to puncheurs as well: McCarthy, Boswell, Vakoc and Kritskiy.
Let's see how Generali handle the fact that they have two of the strongest riders for today's stage in the same team. And let's see how the climbers with less punch can do today. And, of course, who's going to be in the breakaway - with a great chance of taking over the KoM jersey today, given that there are 36 points on offer for a rider winning all KoM sprints!
The pack is ready, and so are the fans. It's another day with just a few clouds - but some wind. Given that the stage will first lead south-east (after the extra lap) and then back north-west, the riders will have tailwinds during most of the stage, but headwinds on the last third. Let's see if that is a factor!
Well, on the extra lap, there's first some headwind, which doesn't stop the riders from attacking as soon as the road starts rising. Barthe is active again, followed by Oliveira - having a Generali rider in the breakaway was a rare sight so far. Coppel comes next, and the quartet is rounded off by 1-star stage favorite Boswell! Let's see if the pack lets him ride up front today.
But first, there are of course some more attacks. van der Poel, Bugge and Roman were already part of yesterday's breakaway, together with Barthe and Boswell - only Oliveira and Coppel are "newbies" so far.
We then have a good mix of newbies and recidivists, with Bernal and Serrano in the latter category, and Rosskopf plus Vakoc - another stage favorite - in the former.
Vanbilsen isn't too happy about all these escapees, though.
However, Lierse SK give up little later - meaning we've got the first Breakaway of the Day without the PCT team participating!
The other PCT team, Polar, has however again succeeded in sending multiple riders up front. These are today's courageous eleven:
Roman
Bugge
van der Poel
Rosskopf
Oliveira
Vakoc
Bernal
Barthe
Boswell
Serrano
Coppel
Or should we already call them "stage win contenders", given how the race unfolded on the last six days? In this case, Vakoc and Boswell should be by far superior to the others, with the former clearly being the faster sprinter though.
If climbing should be more important than the hill riding skills, Roman should have some good chances. Bernal is a good climber as well, but might lack the punch on the hills. Rosskopf, Serrano and Bugge are all good puncheurs with some climbing skils, whereas van der Poel is the best sprinter. Coppel is the strongest on the flat - but that won't help much today.
In terms of GC, the best rider today is Vakoc in 36th place. He's 18 minutes behind Malecki, which means about 6 minutes behind the main GC contenders.
The peloton takes it easy on this first hill, led by Van Winden, Naud, Castrillo, Kanter, Nizzolo and Zhao. The gap is already 3'31", after just 10 kilomters of racing. It shouldn't grow much higher, given the really strong group of escapees!
The breakaway is back in Benevento, and about to leave the city for good now, heading southwards. They're already 6 minutes ahead, and now enter the tailwind section. How much freedom will they get?
Well, not more than those 6 minutes. The peloton, now leaving behind Benevento as well, has slightly picked up the pace.
After some slightly ascending kilometers, along the Sabato river, the breakaway now leaves the riverside to do some additional climbing - only to re-join the Sabato a little later. Boswell leads the group into the ascent.
The pack has entered this climb as well, led by top puncheurs Granjel Cabrera and Appollonio. Oh, nevermind, I guess I picked the wrong speciality... Which explains why the gap jumps up again to 6 minutes while it was down to 5 at the bottom of the hill.
By the way, the wind is now blowing at 21km/h, clearly giving the riders a boost right now.
Here they are, again riding up the valley after a short descent. 10km to the start of the Monte Terminio climb.
And the pack has again upped the pace after the hilltop, as the deficit is down to 4'44". 70km done, almost 140km to come.
The breakaway has reached Serino, from where they now take the Via Terminio - leading up to Monte Terminio, natch.
It's yet another one of those long, but not really steep climbs, having an average gradient of less than 5%. The flatter part towards the top should help most of the riders to keep in touch.
The breakaway has now tackled the first inclines, with van der Poel currently leading the race.
But the peloton has made good further ground on the flatter part up the valley, and so they take the same turn just 3'42" later.
However, if Granjel Cabrera continues to lead the pack throughout the whole climb, this deficit may grow again...
It did indeed grow, as when Serrano launches his attack 2km from the top, the breakaway is 4'39" ahead. Boswell - who already won a category 2 KoM sprint yesterday - is the first to respond, followed by fellow top puncheur Vakoc.
Oh, that was a close fight! van der Poel finally outsprints all the riders ahead and takes maximum points!
1. van der Poel - 10 (10)
2. Vakoc - 8 (8)
3. Rosskopf - 6 (6)
4. Boswell - 4 (14)
5. Roman - 2 (10)
With this result, Boswell could take the KoM lead by arriving first on top of Colle Molella, whereas van der Poel or Roman could at least catch up with the leading duo. With 26 points still on offer, it is pretty likely that we'll see a new leader tonight - except if the pack catches them before the last ascent!
While speaking of the pack: Boudat is no longer part of it. He's the first - and only - rider being dropped on this climb. He's really a hopeless case in the mountains...
Further up, Turek leads the peloton over the top - 5'21" behind the escapees... Well, there really seem to be no domestiques capable of gaining ground on the uphills, right?
But well, the main obstacle of the day is yet to come - and it's this one! Colle Molella starts as yet another easy climb - but the second half is really tough, with sections containing gradients above 13%!
And don't forget - the climb isn't quite over yet after this, as there's more climbing up to Serra Tondo after only a very short intermediate descent!
The pack can see the breakaway further up the road as they enter the climb - but it's a few turns higher up, not just a few meters. The gap has come down to 4'28" again - let's see if the yo-yoing continues.
The breakaway is now in one of the steepest sections of the climb. Vakoc is leading, and they're still at full strength. Let's see if that still holds once we arrive on top.
Further behind, the pace seems to be much higher than in the previous climbs, as the gap is now down to 3'40".
A fact that Vakoc doesn't appreciate, and so he seemingly wants to get rid of the weaker riders. He attacks already with 2km of climbing to go, as we still have gradients of 11%! Rosskopf takes his wheel, with Serrano close behind.
With 1.5km to go, it's Rosskopf who has taken the lead - that's a pretty strong performance by the US-American!
Serrano, van der Poel, Boswell, Bernal, Roman, Coppel and Barthe are trying to catch up with the leading duo, while Oliveira and Bugge had to let go.
In the end, it's Vakoc winning the KoM sprint ahead of Rosskopf, while Boswell has just missed out on the decisive move.
It's a close race between Vakoc and Boswell - but both need to score on the final hill to take command in the KoM standings. Rosskopf and Roman have some theoretical chances as well, but they'd need to beat the two former to overtake them.
And what's actually going on in the pack? Well, Van Niekerk is in the lead, but after having shed already about 30 riders, they have slowed down again. The current gap is estimated at 4 minutes, but we'll see clearer once they arrive on top.
After the top - the first one - we now have a group of just 6 riders left up front:
Vakoc
Boswell
Roman
Rosskopf
Bernal
van der Poel
They still have about 80km ahead of them, including the short ascent to Serra Tondo, as already announced.
Serrano, Coppel and Barthe follow 36" behind, while Bugge and Oliveira haven't arrived on top of Colle Molella yet.
Here they are - but already 1'56" back, they definitely won't catch up with the front group again.
2'23" later - which is 4'19" behind the front group - Van Niekerk leads the remainders of the peloton across the top, closely followed by Demare.
Of course, this climb has already brought some separation from climbers to non-climbers - but even some pretty good mountain specialists as Campero have already lost contact!
Further left-behinds include Affonso, Izagirre (once again...) or Maglia Bianca Sendeku.
But more importantly, Maglia Rosa Malecki drops just over the top as well, as he finds himself now in a group with McCarthy, Anacona and Ji. They're currently just 20" behind the main group - but remember, the last part of the climb is yet to come!
The sixpack up front have already left behind Serra Tondo, and now head into the well-deserved descent down to the intermediate sprint in Lioni.
And something else besides the downhill that they will like: the wind has slightly faded, blowing just at 10km/h now that they've engaged the headwind section.
Despite Demare riding a horrendous tempo up this final part of the climb, Malecki has again caught up and is inside the pack! Which only counts 59 riders currently; we'll take a look at the composition once across the top.
Oliveira and Bugge are still slightly ahead, but will probably soon be caught.
Let's take a look at the current timings:
Vakoc
Boswell
Roman
Rosskopf
Bernal
van der Poel
+ 1'16"
Serrano
Coppel
Barthe
+ 2'42"
Bugge
Oliveira
+ 3'32"
Peloton
75km are yet to be covered by the breakaway, including three more hills.
The peloton and some left-behind groups have now tackled the downhill as well. Pictured is the 2nd left-behind group, with the first one corner ahead and the pack just slightly further down the road - meaning the gaps aren't huge yet and will probably be closed on this long downhill.
The most interesting riders behind the peloton include stage favorite Bystrom, Ji, Kozhatayev, but as well 4th overall Kruijswijk and 9th Bizkarra! Izagirre was already dropped way earlier and is even behind this group.
Meanwhile, the escapees have arrived at the intermediate sprint - without competing for points. They roll across in this order:
1. van der Poel - 10 (10)
2. Boswell - 6 (6)
3. Roman - 4 (4)
4. Bernal - 2 (13)
5. Rosskopf - 1 (1)
None of them will be dangerous for Demare's lead in the points standings, especially given that only 30 points are on offer for the stage winner today.
Coppel, Serrano and Barthe haven't managed to get much closer on this descent; they still trail by 1'08".
Sergis then sprints across the line as if there were still points available. The pack trails by 3'17", having just reeled in Bugge and Oliveira a few meters ahead of the line. 60km to go.
The front group is about to reach the next hilltop, still 1'07" ahead of the chasers. While it's definitely a beautiful region, all this up and down must be a real pain for those athletes... but it's spectacular to watch for sure!
We then have a strong presence of Team Puma riders at the front of the pack - which is led by Demare. So it's really all in for Arndt for the Germans, it seems. The gap to the front is 2'36" - absolutely manageable with 56km to go.
The peloton again counts 61 riders, with Bizkarra among the latest to have re-joined. Group Kruijswijk is 1'58" behind, though, so the Dutchman will probably lose his 4th GC place.
Mager is now setting an extremely high pace, so that even this main group seems to be splitting up! Furthermore, the gap to the group between the front and the pack has dropped to 52" - Coppel, Serrano and Barthe are now closer to the peloton than to the leaders!
The peloton has really broken into pieces on this short hill! Laengen and Salinas are in this group, along with yesterday's stage winner Costagli.
We then have Carapaz, Kennaugh, McCarthy and once again Velits in the group ahead.
And further up the hill, we see Schleck in big troubles!
In so big troubles that Wirtgen had to drop back from the peloton to help his leader! Anacona is in this group as well - once more not really living up to his task. And Bizkarra is hoping for Wirtgen to close that gap as well!
Soon after - at the start of the next short hill - Barthe is reeled in by the small peloton, which is led by Van Niekerk. Coppel and Serrano had a little more energy left and are still some meters (or 25") ahead of the peloton, while the front group still has a gap of 2'08". Not comfortable, but if they can make it over the top, they might actually have a chance of winning!
Soon after, a tired Van Niekerk hands over the lead to Budenieks, who starts his shift by catching Coppel and Serrano.
Only 6 men are left up front, 2'15" ahead:
Vakoc
Boswell
Roman
Rosskopf
Bernal
van der Poel
The Schleck group is still 1'08" behind the peloton - what a bummer that would be for the Luxembourger to lose time on this stage!
Kennaugh has caught up with this group in the meantime, and Bugge, who was left behind by the pack, now tries to close the gap.
But the pack again lets an exhausted rider do the work - Budenieks would like to hand it over, but no-one is willing to lead now!
Which on one hand means that Schleck comes back - which is good for him and for the race.
On the other hand, the gap to the leaders has jumped up to 3'04" in no time - which is good for them, but not so much for many stage favorites! (Except the two up front, for sure!)
And Budenieks still has to lead - which makes the pack grow back to 56 riders currently. It was down to 33 a few minutes ago... Among the latest returnees are Kozhatayev, Velits, Carapaz and Kruijswijk!
Demare has now again taken the lead - but the Frenchman seems to be pretty empty as well. Which means that the gap keeps increasing, as it's now 4'25". With only 34km remaining and the escapees almost on top of this hill, chances are now pretty high that the breakaway will take the win for a seventh time in a row - who would have thought this ten minutes ago?
And yeah, the pack has again increased in size, as there are now 66 riders, with three pumas having just made their return.
Believe it or not, but even Izagirre who was minutes behind is now about to make his return to the pack! It's really amazing how much the peloton suddenly slows down on these last few stages...
Or should I say worrying? Depends on the perspective; for the breakaway, it's great news to have a four minute advantage with just a little more than 20 kilometers to go; for the main GC contenders who'd love to take a stage win now an then as well, it's definitely not great.
On the descent leading to the foot of the final hill - you can already see its 1-km mark, right ahead of the 10km banner - Roman launches an attack! Well knowing that he's not the strongest puncheur, he tries to make use of his great downhill skills - let's see if that works out! With van der Poel, the chasers have an even stronger descender...
Here's the profile of that last short climb up to Passo Serra. It is short, yes - but more than 7.5% steep on average, which will surely hurt after almost 200 kilometers of cycling through hilly terrain!
But once on top, there will be just 9km left to the line, which must be enough motivation for these riders to squeeze out every bit of energy they've got left!
Here we go, the (likely) decisive climb is on! Who can make his stage winning move here?
Roman is still a few meters ahead, but this is definitely not the margin he was hoping for.
The margin on the pack, however, is great: still 4 minutes, and only these 4km of climbing left!
Meanwhile, group Izagirre has indeed made the catch, singalling a rather low speed of the pack. Which also means that all the stage favorites bar Vakoc and Boswell - who are up front and have the best chances of winning now - are in the pack.
Rosskopf is the first to make a move - let's see who still has enough in his legs to respond! 2.8km of climbing to go!
Vakoc not only responds, but even counters and takes the lead! Rosskopf is still able to keep up, with Roman trying to follow this duo. Bernal, Boswell and van der Poel already have a small gap!
The peloton now is in this climb as well - with Aregger leading. Who is surely a decent rider on the hills, but not the one it would take to force a major split.
Nonetheless, the gap has dropped to 3'30". Still far too much for the breakaway to start worrying.
10 kilometers to go for Vakoc and Rosskopf, thereof 800m to the hilltop! Roman has fallen back to the chasing group and is riding with Bernal, Boswell and van der Poel. They are already 51" behind - so this hill could at least have brought a preliminary decision, leaving us with just two stage win candidates! But it isn't over yet...
On the final meters of the climb, Vakoc gets a slight gap on Rosskopf! And moreover, he takes maximum points again, therefore taking over the Maglia Azzurra!
Unfortunately, our TV cameras have missed out on the chasing group, who crossed the top 1'47" later. Here is the full points distribution:
So we have a new leader - followed by now four riders having 26 points each!
But let's again take a look at the pack, where Cavagna has taken command, ahead of Aregger and Demare. We again see Izagirre drop - it's really not his GT until now... Salinas and Costagli are falling behind again as well.
Further back, having just missed out on making the catch, are Laengen and Ji, who is anyway disappointing throughout the whole race. At least, his teammate has great chances for the stage win!
Maglia Bianca Sendeku is even further behind, and will surely not be wearing this jersey tomorrow (especially given that he's only 3rd in the U25 standings now).
Demare is now in the lead again, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in pushing hard. Not a single attack from the peloton is really disappointing, especially given that some of the GC contenders were already in difficulties before, while others - first of all Spilak - need to gain as much time as possible!
And so, the gap is up to 3'53" again, definitely sealing another breakaway win. Sigh...
Towards the top, Demare slightly accelerates again, so that McKenna is struggling to keep up. And this acceleration again drops Carapaz and Kozhatayev, with Velits even further down the road!
In the meantime, Rosskopf and Vakoc have already left behind the 5km banner, still working together. They have lost a few seconds, but 1'36" should definitely be enough if they don't start playing games!
The pack, down to 50 riders again, trails by 3'48".
But they actually DO start playing games, just as the pack is below the 5km arc. There's no more speed up front, with Vakoc refusing to take the lead. But he's a much better sprinter, so he really could do Rosskopf this favor!
Because if there's one thing both want to avoid at all costs, that would be van der Poel catching up again, given that he's the strongest sprinter of all six remaining escapees!
And by the way, Kruijswijk has again been dropped from the pack, along with Anacona, Bizkarra and Maglia Azzurra Budenieks. It's just 41" now - can they close the gap again? The pack is down to 44 riders now.
The chasers are actually not really gaining ground, so either they must be tired or they haven't got wind of the front duo's slow speed. However, they can see them further up the slightly inclined road, which may give them a morale boost!
There's no Fiamma Rossa today, as the arc would have needed to be placed in a turn, which apparently wasn't possible. Still, the leading duo has reached the final 1,000 meters, with Rosskopf still leading!
700m to go, and it's still the same image. With the chasers still not in sight, 1st and 2nd should now be safe for this duo - but who has got most left?
With 500m to go, Vakoc launches his sprint! Can Rosskopf counter?
Vakoc has taken the lead with just 300m to go! Rosskopf is doing well so far, can he even draw level again?
Just 150m to go, and it's still a close race! Vakoc seems to confirm his superior sprinting capabilities - or can Rosskopf somehow turn this one around on the closing meters?
No, he can't, and so it's Petr Vakoc who wins the 9th stage of this Giro d'Italia! Joey Rosskopf has to settle for 2nd, after having given the Czech a great fight! While the latter even was on the list of today's stage favorites, it really took an extraordinary performance by the US-American to keep up with Vakoc!
Meanwhile, the chasers are on the final 1,000 meters as well - who will take 3rd?
van der Poel should be the clear favorite in this group when it comes down to pure sprinting skills - but after 208km, this might be pretty relative. He's got the worst position right now - what can he make out of this?
He launches the sprint with 500m to go, Boswell taking his wheel. The eBuddy rider was the second pre-stage favorite in this group and must be disappointed about having missed out on the decisive move - can he at least secure a podium spot?
van der Poel and Boswell have a small gap with 300m to go, with Bernal and Roman being unable to match their speed.
Ian Boswell does a good job of holding onto Mathieu van der Poel's wheel - but he is unable to overtake the Dutchman, who takes today's 3rd place! That's definitely a great result, beating many stronger puncheurs today! For Boswell, it's a missed chance for sure - but more hilly stages are scheduled!
These two come in 1'17" after the stage winner.
The two remaining breakaway riders are completely empty, but still make it to the finish line ahead of the pack. Egan Bernal repeates yesterday's 5th place, and Aleksandar Roman takes 6th. The former loses 1'44", the latter 1'53" - that's pretty unusual so far to see such a small time gap!
The peloton is already on the closing meters as well, with Niu again leading out the sprint for Arndt! Taaramäe is again very close to the front, followed by Barguil.
Niu has completed his job, which means that Taaramäe is now up front! But Barguil is already almost level with him, with Arndt in 3rd position, side by side with Karnulin.
In the middle of the road, Kritskiy is sandwiched between Spilak and Talansky, while Faglum Karlsson, Nesset and Bongiorno are on the next line.
But behind, we see that Malecki has just been dropped, along with Demare! Amador is in big troubles as well and looks completely empty - will he fall back as well?
Anyway, with all the time gaps not given so far, they probably don't really worry...
With 200m to go, Arndt, Taaramäe and Barguil are almost on level terms, with Karnulin almost a bike length behind!
It's Nikias Arndt who's got most left and sprints to 7th, while Rein Taaramäe narrowly edges out Warren Barguil for 8th.
But who takes the final spot in the Top 10?
It's Simon Spilak, who finishes inches ahead of Denys Karnulin. Let's see who else is in today's Top 20:
12. Timofey Kritskiy
13. Sigurd Nesset
14. Francesco Bongiorno
15. Jack Haig
16. Andrew Talansky
17. Marcus Faglum Karlsson
18. Fabio Aru
19. Alex Kirsch
20. Tim Kennaugh
Still inside this group are Valls, Shikai, Reis, Aranburu, Chiarello, Brenes and McCarthy.
The pack's deficit at the finish line is 2'53" - let's see who else gets this time.
Schleck is just about to cross the line, whereas Maglia Rosa Malecki is a bit further behind, with Demare about in between. And there's as well Amador, right between Van Niekerk and Mavrikakis.
All of them get... NOT the same time as the pack! It's almost unbelievable, but the officials seem to have listened to the complaints three days ago. Here are their final times, plus some other interesting ones:
29.
Schleck
+ 3'17" (+ 24")
30.
Mager
+ 3'17" (+ 24")
38.
Amador
+ 3'39" (+ 46")
44.
Malecki
+ 3'48" (+ 55")
51.
Bizkarra
+ 4'16" (+ 1'23")
52.
Anacona
+ 4'16" (+ 1'23")
54.
Kruijswijk
+ 4'16" (+ 1'23")
63.
Carapaz
+ 6'02" (+ 3'09")
65.
Kozhatayev
+ 6'02" (+ 3'09")
78.
Ji
+ 7'30" (+ 4'37")
79.
Laengen
+ 7'30" (+ 4'37")
99.
Salinas
+ 8'48" (+ 5'55")
There are definitely some riders we didn't expect losing time today, including the first and the third on that list. But this gives us some movement in the GC, as we'll see later!
But first, let's come to the stage winner, as we head over to the podium!
Congratulations, Petr Vakoc! His sixth sense pushed him to join today's breakaway - and that was exactly the right thing to do! He was the strongest on the hill, and then he brought this one home like a champion - well done!
It was a huge performance by Joey Rosskopf as well, but Vakoc finally was slightly stronger. Still, the US-American gets the first podium for Generali in this Giro - something that was expected much earlier, and by someone else. Maybe the right motivation for Spilak?
3rd place then goes to youngster Mathieu van der Poel, who already shows now what he'll be capable of in a year! Great result, as he rounds off a podium where all of the teams represented are there for the first time in this race!
For the 6th time in total and the 5th time in a row, Kamil Malecki receives the Maglia Rosa tonight! And at first sight, it was a good stage for the Pole, given that Kristaps Budenieks in 2nd place lost 1'11" on him today!
However, Christian Mager, who still sits in 3rd place, gained 31" on the leader, being now 11'02" down. And after Kruijswijk fell down all the way from 4th to 14th, Haig - still the best placed GC contender - trails by "only" 11'19", gaining 55" today along with most other favorites.
Still, with four rather easy stages plus a time trial coming up, it seems pretty likely that Malecki could still be leading by the start of the 3rd week! What a race for him and his team!
And of course, he also gets the Maglia Bianca, even for the 7th time in a row. He still leads ahead of Kristaps Budenieks, by 10'34" just like in the GC. Egan Bernal's second Top 5 finish in a row makes him move up to 3rd, 17'35" back, overtaking both Sendeku and Amezawa.
That's it for Malecki; after having lost the Maglia Ciclamino already two days ago, we also have a new KoM leader today - who will get his jersey later on.
But first it's Arnaud Demare's turn! The Frenchman easily defends the points jersey once again - and the next four days will be quite decisive for his "Missione Ciclamino"! Let's see if he can increase his total score enough to be safe ahead of the brutal last week.
In 2nd place, 10 points back, we still have Kamil Malecki, while Artem Nych still sits in 3rd, further 6 points down. But tomorrow, we'll again have 50 points on offer for the stage winner, so be prepared for some movement in this standing!
Petr Vakoc not only took the stage win, he as well collected 34/36 available KoM points today - and therefore deservedly takes over the Maglia Azzurra! He now leads 8 points ahead of a quartet of riders, all totalling 26 points: Kamil Malecki, Kristaps Budenieks, Ian Boswell and Joey Rosskopf. Roman is just two points further back, so this jersey is anything but safe currently! But it's safe for at least one more day, given that tomorrow there are only 5 points available.
In addition to the GC lead, Gazelle still hold the lead in the team standings as well. And just like in the GC, they do so by more than 10 minutes now, leading 10'28" ahead of Team Puma - SAP and 10'50" ahead of eBuddy. Evonik - ELKO drop from 2nd to 5th - just 54" behind second place, though...
And that wraps up today's stage. Once more, the breakaway took this stage - but this time, it wasn't just the pack being rather slow, we also had great quality riders up front. Let's see if the sprinters will take their chance tomorrow, or if we'll get an 8th straight breakaway win! See you then!
Giro d'Italia 
