By winning the 9th stage of the Giro this Sunday, an individual time trial, Remco Evenepoel also grabbed the overall leader’s tunic.
This Sunday the peloton of the Tour of Italy temporarily broke up for the 9th stage, an individual time trial of 35 kilometers in Emilia-Romagna between Savignano sul Rubicone and Cesena. A section devoid of major difficulty and therefore particularly suitable for specialists in individual effort. A boon for many riders, including Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ). The French time trial champion smashed the reference time set by Bauke Mollema by 51 seconds. He is the best Habs of the day with his beautiful 5th place (+0:08). However, just seconds after he passed, it was his teammate Stefan Kung who hit even harder, completing the course four seconds faster.
Back in Pink! 🔥
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Back in Pink! 🔥#Giro #Tour of Italy pic.twitter.com/UNbNoUL765— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 14, 2023
The Swiss held the victory for a long time. But as often in this type of event, the last candidates to start are the most formidable. Among them, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) fully assumed his rank as Giro favourite. Belgian champion in the time trial, he was only one second ahead of Geraint Thomas at the finish. (Ineos Grenadiers). His teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart completed the podium for this stage (+0:02). The other big favorite of the Giro, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), fell 17 seconds behind to finish 6th in Cesena. The Italian Damiano Caruso also finished in the top 10, 42 seconds behind the winner of the day.
Chasers beyond 40 seconds
In the general classification, Remco Evenepoel dislodged the Norwegian Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) from the throne of leader, now 6th. Behind the Belgian Geraint Thomas points to 45 seconds while Primoz Roglic is relegated to 47 seconds. The Portuguese Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) moved into 5th position (+1:07). The first Frenchman is Pavel Sivakov, 10th overall, three minutes from the pink jersey in favor of his fine 17th place this Sunday in the time trial. This Monday the Giro takes a break, the peloton will hit the road again on Tuesday for a 196 kilometer stage between Scandiano and Viareggio on the edges of the north-west coast of the boot.
