2017 Giro d'Italia Stage 9 Results & Recap
Stage 9 of the 2017 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
As expected there were attacks from the drop of the flag as riders wanted to be the first to today’s epic climb - Blockhaus.
The gradients of the Blockhaus are over 9% for almost 10 kilometers, with peaks reaching as high as 14%. There is a very short counterslope 500 meters before the finish. The home straight (200 meters long, on six-meter wide asphalt road) has an uphill gradient of approximately 8%.
A group of nine slipped off the front quickly getting a four minute lead. Realizing they’d missed the break Pierre Rolland (Cannondale), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal), and Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) attempted to bridge across.
Back in the peloton the Cannondale Drapac team went to the front to keep the break in check. Their effort paid off as the boys in green shaved off a minute keeping the break at three minutes. Meanwhile still trying to bridge was the trio of Rolland, Marczynski, and Modolo.
Finally, after much effort, the bridging trio made it across to the break and Cannondale Drapac stopped chasing and let Movistar take over for their man Nairo Quintana.\nQuintana wins an exciting stage 9
As expected the general classification contenders finally showed themselves on the Blockhaus climb. Quintana showed he is without rivals when it comes to climbing, leaving the peloton behind and taking the stage as well as the pink jersey.
There were numerous attacks in the beginning of the stage but finally a group of 12 got away.
The time gap of the break seemed to stabilize at around two minutes - everyone knew the real action of the day was going to come at the Blockhaus climb. In fact, last year’s Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali changed his gear ratio to 38x30 in anticipation of the ascent.
As the riders approached the infamous Blockhaus climb the time between the break and the main group started to drop. At 24 kilometers remaining most of the break threw in the towel and were swept up by the peloton. However, Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), and Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) continued on and etched out a handful of seconds lead, but it seemed they were only prolonging the agony.
It didn’t last and with 20 kilometers remaining in the stage the group was together. Movistar riders were leading the group onto the Blockhaus.
With riders fighting for every inch of tarmac, for some reason a police motorcycle parked on the side of the road and was clipped by a rider. The result was a domino effect of riders hitting the deck with Team Sky taking the most damage. Geraint Thomas and Mikel Landa were the worst off of the general classification riders and for a moment it looked like they wouldn’t remount. Fortunately, they did but their chances for a stage win and general classification were ruined.
Up the road on the Blockhaus climb, Movistar charged ahead, tearing the group apart. With seven kilometers remaining a select group of the favorites, minus the Sky riders, were away. Quintana was clearly the strongest and took several digs dropping all the riders except Nibali and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).
Nibali couldn’t keep up the pace and cracked slightly and was passed by Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb). Dumoulin joined forces with Pinot, but it was too little too late - Quintana was gone with a stage victory and pink jersey waiting for him. Chasing behind was Dumoulin and Pinot.
Quintana crossed the line first and Pinot finishing 24 seconds behind with Dumoulin on his heels. Vincenzo Nibali lost a minute to the Movistar climber and that has put a dent in his overall GC chances.
Other riders who were caught out by the Blockhaus climb was van Garderen who cracked massively losing three minutes 45 seconds. Other riders that lost time, but not due to lack of fitness, was Mikel Landa and Geraint Thomas. They were the victims of the moto crash as the climb started. Thomas crossed the line five minutes back. His general classification chances were officially over.
Tomorrow is a rest day and a chance for riders to lick their wounds. Tuesday is a time trial and third place on GC, rider Tom Dumoulin, excels in this discipline. At just 30 seconds behind it might be too much for him to overtake the Colombian, but it will make for an exciting stage. \n
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