Giro d’Italia 2020 – Stage 09 [FULL STAGE]

October 11, 2020

Giro d’Italia 2020 – Stage 9 – San Salvo – Roccaraso : 208 km

The Giro d’Italia is traditionally the first Grand Tour of the season, bringing in the summer of stage racing after the Classics, as the snow melts in the mountains and the poppies flower along the Italian roadside. This year, after the COVID-19 lockdown and the massively rescheduled season, the Giro d’Italia comes after the Tour de France and overlaps with the Ardennes and cobbled Classics and even the Vuelta a España. Any snow will be fresh like the autumnal temperatures, but the racing should again be spectacular with Italy offering a different but still unique and beautiful backdrop for the race. The loss of the Hungarian Grande Partenza means the 103rd edition of the Corsa Rosa will be an all-Italian race, with only a brief visit to France during stage 20 to climb the Col d’Izoard. The racing starts in Palermo on Saturday October 3 with a 15.1km time trial from the hill-top village of Monreale and finishes in Milan on Sunday October 25 with a 15.7km time trial to the spectacular Duomo. Another time trial – 34.1km in the Prosecco vineyards above Conegliano – makes the 2020 race route good for time trialists, but over 40,000 metres of climbing across 50 classified climbs and five summit finishes gives the climbers ample opportunity to gain enough time before the decisive stage to Milan.

Ruben Guerreiro (EF Pro Cycling) outsprinted Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) to win stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia.

The pair broke clear from the rest of the day’s eight-man breakaway on the final two climbs of the day, with Guerreiro getting the better of Castroviejo in the sprint at the line.

“Finally, what a great satisfaction after so many second places! The team and I really deserved this victory. It was very difficult to get into the breakaway this morning and it’s extraordinary to win today,” Guerreiro said.

Guerreiro’s Portuguese compatriot João Almeida successfully defended the pink jersey, as the expected battle among the GC favourites never really materialised.

The peloton stayed together until the final kilometre when Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) managed to gain a few seconds over the other GC candidates.

The time gaps were small, but perhaps revealing of which riders are in better form as we reach the end of the first week. Rafal Majka and Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) were three seconds behind Kelderman and Fuglsang; Pozzovivo six seconds; and Vincenzo Nibali, despite instructing his Trek-Segafredo teammates to set a fast pace over the day’s final two climbs, conceded 14 seconds.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) also lost 14 seconds, meaning he slips to third overall behind Kelderman, while Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) was further back still, losing 21 seconds.

Despite the very difficult parcours, however, the GC race was largely a stalemate, with none of the top candidates willing to make a major attack.

Instead, the breakaway was the main focus of the stage, with Guerreiro proving to be the strongest.

His was EF Pro Cycling’s second stage win of this Giro following Jonathan Caicedo’s triumph on stage 3, and their sport director Matti Breschel was delighted at the finish.

“It’s amazing. I still can’t believe what just happened. Ruben Guerreiro rode like a champion today. It was a strong group. He wanted to be in the breakaway, and he was there, and he rode the final perfect. An amazing day for us.

“He’s an amazing character, an amazing person. He’s a little bit like an artist on the bike, he wants to do a lot of things. But when he’s calm he really is a fantastic bike rider. He was close to winning a stage at the Vuelta last year, and this year he’s only been progressing. Even during the lockdown, he was very professional, very motivated to do good in this Giro. Finally, he had some success.”

How it unfolded

On a cold, drizzly day, it took a little while for the break to get away, but eventually, a seven-man break was formed on the rolling run-in to the first classified climb of the day, the category one Passo Lanciano.

They were: Ruben Guerreiro (EF Pro Cycling), Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers), Eduardo Sepulveda (Movistar) and Ben O’Connor (NTT Pro Cycling), plus Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabu-Brado-KTM), Kilian Frankiny (Groupama-FDJ) and Larry Warbasse (AG2R La Mondiale), who managed to bridge over a little later.

On the climb, they were joined by an eighth rider, Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates), who put in a huge effort to make up several minutes between himself and the other breakaway riders.

Visconti took the maximum points at the summit ahead of Guerreiro and Castroviejo, and then again on the following category two Passo San Leonardo, meaning he became the new virtual leader of the mountains classification.

With Castroviejo the best-placed man overall in the break on GC at 6:49, the peloton weren’t overly concerned with the breakaway and allowed the gap to grow to over seven minutes.

Indeed, the GC riders kept their powder dry until the finishing climb to Roccaraso, on where one of the most important GC showdowns was expected to take place.

Trek-Segafredo were the first team to show intent, upping the pace in the peloton on the penultimate climb, Bosco di Sant’Antonio. That brought the gap down to around 3:30 with 22km to go, but it steadied again once the team allowed Deceuninck-QuickStep to take over, giving the breakaway a realistic shot at competing for the stage win.

Visconti, Sepúlveda and O’Connor were dropped on Bosco di Sant’Antonio, leaving just five in the leading group. At the foot of the final climb, with Team Sunweb having taken control at the front of the peloton, the gap remained at 3:30.

Castroviejo attacked 6.3km from the finish, with only Guerreiro able to follow. The pair managed to build a lead of over half a minute from the other three, ensuring that they would contest for the stage win.

Castroviejo attacked again as the gradient ramped up under the 1km to go banner, but was unable to drop his Portuguese companion. Guerreiro remained glued to Catroviejo’s wheel for the rest of the climb, until launching his sprint with 200 metres to go to take the victory.

Back in the peloton, Lucas Hamilton (Mitchelton-Scott) and Tao Gegogharn Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) were the first to attack, hoping to gain some time and move up from 17th and 19th on GC respectively.

They managed to stay up the road as the favourites continued to look at each other until Kelderman made his move in the final kilometre.

The gaps between them were limited to only a handful of seconds, meaning the situation at the top of the general classification remains largely the same.

Results :
1 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Pro Cycling 5:41:20
2 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:08
3 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:58
4 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:16
5 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R la Mondiale
6 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:19
7 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:32
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:38
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
10 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
11 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:41
12 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
13 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:44
14 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
15 Fausto Masnada (Ita) CCC Team 0:01:50
16 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:52
17 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
18 Attila Valter (Hun) CCC Team 0:01:55
19 Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:56
20 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
21 Tobias Foss (Nor) Team Jumbo-Visma
22 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:59
23 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
24 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
25 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:01
26 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC Team 0:02:08
27 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:17
28 Ben Swift (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:02:25
29 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:27
30 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
31 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:38
32 Jhonatan Manuel Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 0:02:41
33 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:43
34 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:06
35 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:03:14
36 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:23
37 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:03:29
38 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:50
39 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:04:00
40 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 0:04:02
41 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:04:32
42 Chris Harper (Aus) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:04:58
43 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team 0:06:13
44 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:28
45 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:06:52
46 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
47 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:07:03
48 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
49 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
50 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
51 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
52 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
53 Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:07:16
54 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:07:21
55 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:07:22
56 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:35
57 Louis Meintjes (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:08:50
58 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain McLaren 0:09:21
59 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:09:51
60 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Israel Start-Up Nation
61 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team
62 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:10:01
63 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:10:53
64 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
65 Victor De la Parte (Spa) CCC Team 0:10:55
66 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Pro Cycling 0:11:09
67 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:11:15
68 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:12:30
69 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:12:36
70 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling
71 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:13:38
72 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:15:05
73 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:15:52
74 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal 0:16:09
75 Josip Rumac (Cro) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
76 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling
77 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren
78 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Pro Cycling 0:16:13
79 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
80 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
81 Kamil Malecki (Pol) CCC Team
82 Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (Col) Movistar Team
83 Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (Ecu) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:16:20
84 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:16:32
85 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:16:33
86 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale 0:17:46
87 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:17:51
88 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale 0:18:46
89 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
90 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling
91 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
92 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
93 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
94 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:18:52
95 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
96 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
97 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
98 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
99 Filippo Zana (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
100 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
101 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
102 Matteo Sobrero (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
103 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis
104 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
105 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team
106 Josef Cerny (Pol) CCC Team
107 Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
108 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
109 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
110 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) NTT Pro Cycling
111 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal
112 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
113 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
114 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:19:02
115 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis
116 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
117 Etienne Van Empel (Ned) Vini Zabu’ KTM
118 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis 0:19:23
119 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:21:03
120 Francesco Romano (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 0:26:46
121 Matteo Spreafico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:26:59
122 Mattia Bais (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:27:02
123 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:30:08
124 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team
125 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team
126 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis 0:30:10
127 Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ 0:31:29
128 James Whelan (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
129 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
130 Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
131 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
132 Fabio Mazzucco (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
133 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 0:31:32
134 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:31:35
135 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
136 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
137 Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis
138 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates
139 Rodrigo Contreras Pinzon (Col) Astana Pro Team
140 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling
141 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation
142 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
143 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
144 Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:31:40
145 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
146 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates 0:31:41
147 Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:31:43
148 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis
149 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal
150 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
151 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
152 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:31:47
153 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
154 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ 0:31:49
155 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 0:33:42
156 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ 0:40:18
157 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:40:21
158 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation
159 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
160 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:40:23

General Classification after Stage 9 :
1 Joao Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quickstep 35:35:50
2 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:30
3 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:39
4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:53
5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:57
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:01
7 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:02
8 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:11
9 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:15
10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:17