With Stage 9 the Giro reaches the mountains. And rather than dipping their toe in the riders will immediately face a 215k trial by fire. The last 40km is almost entirely up hill with the Cat 1 Valico di Monte Christo (25k at 4.5%) followed by the Cat 1 climb up to Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso (6.9k at 6.6%). Before that the riders will have dealt with a Cat 1, Cat 2, 2 Cat 3’s and a Cat 4. Today seems like a good day for Lecuisinier to assert the dominance everyone is expecting.
And indeed, he leads the stage favorites.
It is also likely the day on which the serious climbers begin to take an interest in the KOM competition. There are enough points for a rider starting with zero to take the lead today. Brkic decides the best defense is a good offense and is immediately on the attack.
But Brkic doesn’t need to worry about being lonely, with 20k a 26-rider break has 2’55. The full list is: Amezawa, Van Poucke Gabburo Hepburn Giannoutsos, Kastrantas, Kiriakidis Brkic, Lastra Konrad, Leknessund Conti Koshevoy Jaramillo, Petelin, Pronskiy Smith Kelderman Neuman Mager Barbio Kennaugh, Viviani Campbell, Lopez, Tejada
Zwift, Isostar and ELCO are the best represented teams with 3 riders each, K leads the letters with 6 riders and Barbio is the best on GC, 7’46 off the pace.
Smith attacks early and takes 6 points at the top of the first climb. He is a rider who knows how to ride for stages and KOMs. Mager 2nd. Brkic isn’t quite able to pass Barbio for the last two points. The break is scattered across the climb. The peloton is 7’28 behind the leaders.
By the time they reach the 2nd Cat 3 (11.2k at 4.1%) the break has reformed, except for Viviani who is 1’10 behind. The peloton is at 10’32, the gap has stabilized but isn’t shrinking.
Barbio attacks early and grabs 6 more points at the top. Then Mager and Brkic. Barbio started 12 points behind Brkic in the KOM competition and has cut that in half already.
Viviani has not been able to rejoin and is now drifting back towards the peloton which is almost 12 minutes behind. After a short descent the break will tackle the Cat 1 Vado di Sole, 21k at 6.2%.
135k to go for the peloton, the lead is 11’12 with Evonik not showing any interest in leading the pursuit. About 10 riders have been dropped. Ahead Hepburn and Campbell have been dropped by the break, which still has 13k to climb.
2.6k to climb and Brkic is dropped from the break along with Kelderman. Gabburo, Kastrantas, Lastra, Neuman, Lopez and Barbio were dropped earlier. The gap from the front to the peloton is 12’14.
Smith attacks and with 1.6k to go he and Konrad have a small gap. Amezawa and Mager have been dropped. Disappointing from the Aker man.
Smith drops Konrad and rides solo most of the way to the top. Giannoutsos catches him just as they reach the top but can’t stop Smith from taking maximum points. The next four on the road, at 32 seconds, are the Isostar trio of Jaramillo, Petelin and Pronskiy along with Kennaugh. The rest of the break is spread out on the climb behind. Just 10k to the next climb a Cat 4.
MOL (Pereyra) and Moser (Prado) have begun to do a little work in the peloton. With 1.5k to climb on the Cat 1 the peloton is reduced to 59 riders although the gap to the front is still over 12 minutes. From the top 25 on GC Mano and Demare are the only victims so far.
By the time they reach the top of the Cat 4 the front 6 are back together. Kennaugh takes the points ahead of Petelin and Smith. The next group of 7, including Van Poucke, Kiriakidis,, Konrad, Leknessund, Conti, Koshevoy and Tejada is not far behind. Smith up to 23 points in the KOM, good enough for 5th.
Karnulin (14th on GC) suffers a flat 1k from the top of the Cat 1 climb which drops him out of the Pink Jersey group.
With 85k to go the front group is back to 10 as Van Poucke, Kiriakidis, Konrad and Leknessund have made it across on the descent. Tejada at 20 seconds and a group with Conti, Koshevoy, Mager and Amezawa is at 49 seconds. In 4k the break will start the next climb, the Colle Della Battaglia (14k Cat 2 at 6%).
Behind the peloton has passed the Cat 4 and is on the descent. The gap is 10’44. Another 8 riders have been dropped including Yates (22nd on GC). Sosnitskiy and Vervaeke have dropped back to help Karnulin, they are 1’13 behind the main chase group.
Schir leads the Pink Jersey group down the descent, reducing the gap to 10 minutes with 80k to ride. Evonik yet to lift a finger today. The Yates and Karnulin groups have merged and trail by just over 1 minute. Ahead the front 3 groups have merged bring the lead group back to 15 riders.
6k later the Karnulin group has rejoined as the peloton is on the Colle Della Battaglia. Evonik is now working and Gavars has reduced the lead to 9’06.
1.4k from the top of the Colle Della Battaglia, Smith is again the first to attack.
Smith reaches the top with a 13 second gap over 7 chasers. He adds 10 more points to his KOM total. He will need another 10 on the next Cat 1 to take the competition lead but that is still 50k away. Petelin takes 2nd and is up to 21 points.
Over the top of the Cat 2 MOL and Tinkoff come to the front of the peloton. The lead is back to 9’29.
With 38k to go the 14-rider break passes the sprint point, Koshevoy the only victim of the last climb. Their lead is down to 7’45 with lots of teams contributing to the chase now. They are now on the Cat 1 Valico di Monte Christo that leads to the finishing ramp. It averages only 4.1% but is 24k long. The surviving breakaway riders are: Amezawa, Van Poucke Giannoutsos, Kiriakidis Konrad, Leknessund Conti Jaramillo, Petelin, Pronskiy Smith Mager Kennaugh Tejada
With 30k in the stage and 16k to climb Uran leads the 46-rider peloton, the gap to the break has stabilized just below 8 minutes.
27k to go and Oomen attacks, he needs to make up for that poor time trial.
It doesn’t last long; Uran shuts him down. It does reduce the gap to 7’26.
Meintjes likes the concept though and launches his own attack. Uran is spent so Gavars and Blums take over the chase (UBS rider is Barbio coming back from the break, he is also helping out with the chase).
It takes a little longer but Meintjes is shut down. Up front Tejada, Leknessund and Conti have been dropped from the break.
The next time Oomen and Meintjes try together, joined by Nesset. The break’s lead is down to 6’15 but there is only 22k to go. Jaramillo and Mager have been dropped from the break.
Blums and Vosekalns shut down that attack just before the 20k banner. The attacks have reduced the front group by 13 riders. Mostly domestiques, Vervaeke, 23rd, the best placed on GC of those dropped.
1.5k to the top for the breakaway, forcing by Smith has reduced the group to 5, him plus Giannoutsos, Petelin, Kennaugh and Konrad. After a brief lull that saw the gap expand to 6’45 and the group swell back to 40, Meintjes and Ooomen have attacked the peloton again.
Barguil and Sivakov follow the latest attack in the Pink Jersey group and with his domestiques spent Lecuisinier responds himself.
Smith is feeling good today. By the top he has dropped everyone except Giannoutsos. With another 16 points he has the virtual KOM jersey. 16k to go, these two have 5’54 over the peloton.
Behind Lecuisinier’s response has neutralized the latest attacks. Although the group is back to 26 with all the prior riders dropped again plus Mavrikakis (11th on GC) and Yates (22nd)
As the Pink Jersey group reaches the top of the Valico di Monte Christo Barguil launches another attack. The dropped riders have just rejoined as the pace had slowed.
Giannoutsos and Smith reach the finishing climb (6.9k at 6.6%) with a 14 second lead over Kennaugh, Konrad, and Petelin. The Greek rider immediately tries an attack. Their lead over the peloton is 7’22 so these 5 should decide the stage although Amezawa and Van Poucke are at 1’03 and could come back into it.
The Barguil attack briefly creates a gap but Blums and Prado quickly shut it down. However, Mavrikakis (11th on GC), Yates (22nd) and the others are dropped again.
Having shut down the earlier attack Smith waits a little and with 5.4k launches his own attack, he quickly opens up a gap on Giannoutsos. The next 3 have faded to over a minute back so they may be out of it.
3k to go for Smith, his lead is 22 seconds over Giannoutsos and 1’58 over the next five (the Aker riders having caught Konrad, Petelin and Kennaugh). The peloton is on the finishing climb but are just riding tempo behind Prado, they trail by 7’50, Yates and Vervaeke have rejoined and Mavrikakis is almost there.
3.6k to go for the peloton and Galta and Sivakov attack. Ahead Smith has a 20 second lead and 1.7k to ride.
Madrazo fails to shut down the two attackers and they quickly get a gap of 30 seconds. Lecuisinier is forced to respond. At the back of the group the usual suspects have been dropped, Mavrikakis never made it back.
2.4k to go for Galta and Sivakov. Lecuisinier is at 22 seconds then a group of 13 at 42 seconds. Geoghegan Hart (5th), Almeida (9th), Karnulin (14th), and Goos (13th) are dropped.
500 meters for Smith his lead is 20 seconds. Behind Lecuisinier has reached Galta and Sivakov while Madrazo (3rd on GC) has been dropped from the next group.
1.6k to go for Lecuisinier, he is flying now, he looks much better than his two compatriots. Behind the chase is reduced to 8 riders with Roglic (19th) and Kirsch (16th) dropped.
A huge day for Dion Smith, a second King Power stage win and the KOM jersey lead. Giannoutsos closed in the final meters but has to settle for 2nd.
Under the 1k banner Lecuisinier gaps Galta and Sivakov. A chase group including Meintjes, Oomen, Bernal, Barguil, Powless, Bongiorno and Nesset is just 17 seconds behind them. Hirt has been dropped from that group.
Amezawa uses a late attack to grab 3rd. A good ride once he recovered from his early wobble. Petelin 4th then Konrad, Kennaugh and Van Poucke. Sivakov and Galta have been caught by the next group. But Bongiorno has been dropped from that group.
A rampaging Lecuisinier takes 9th just behind Pronskiy. He will secure a much larger time gap than 1 second and it seems unlikely his leader’s jersey will be under much threat going forward.
Sivakov beats out Meintjes for 10th 30 seconds behind PHL.
Bernal, Oomen, Barguil, Galta, and Nesset all get the same time as Sivakov. Powless is the next GC rider home he loses another 51 seconds, still a great ride for him. Madrazo (+2’58 on Lecuisinier) and Hirt (+2’07) are the big losers among the top GC contenders.
Lecuisinier expands his GC lead to 31 seconds over Bernal. Galta moves into third at 1’21, 4 seconds ahead of Sivakov. Madrazo drops to 11th.
King Power add the team jersey lead to their accomplishments for the day.
Giro d’Italia 
