Egan Bernal grabs Giro d’Italia lead after graveled summit finish triumph

Egan Bernal was the strongest on the graveled summit finish at the end of Sunday’s ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia. It was the Colombian’s first ever Grand Tour stage win. Bernal seized the pink jersey from Attila Valter (Hungary/Groupama-FDJ) to become the fifth Colombian to ever lead the race and has a 15 second gap over Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Deceuninck-Quick Step).

The Course

Sunday’s route crammed four categorized climbs and a few uncategorized climbs in 158 km, with the most important one being the Cat. 1 summit finish Campo Felice, a 5.4 km effort of 5.7 percent, with the final 1.5 km graveled and a maximum grade of 14 percent. It was the first time the climb had been used in the Giro.

#Giro stage 9 will be a short, but tough one.
The riders will face four climbs – Passo Godi (13.9km, 4.1%), Forca Caruso (12.7km, 4.5%), Ovindoli (14.2km, 5.1%) and Campo Felice (6.6km, 5.8%) – as well as a steep white roads section on the final ascent. pic.twitter.com/h4lIeLxXfO

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 16, 2021

Yes, this is the finish of today's stage at the @giroditalia ?

? @cyclingmedia_ag pic.twitter.com/WznwWHdH5k

— Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert (@IntermarcheWG) May 16, 2021

As on Saturday, there were several breakaways that failed to stay away amid a torrid pace in the field. In fact, by the midpoint of the day, there wasn’t a definitive fugitive group. In one of the early breaks, Matej Mohoric crashed on the descent of Passo Godi and his bike snapped in two. Bahrain-Victorious’ man had to abandon, leaving his team with six riders.

? Luckily helmets are mandatory now #Giro104pic.twitter.com/sb7N6yBOQt

— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) May 16, 2021

Lotto-Soudal was down to six riders as well after their Pole Tomasz Marczyński had to withdraw due to long COVID symptoms.

No @TMarczynski at the start of stage 9 @giroditalia Tomasz is struggling with post covid neurologic symptoms: headache, insomnia, dizziness and coordination problems. Team doctor Maarten Meirhaeghe decided to pull him out for safety reasons and further examinations.

— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) May 16, 2021

It was on uncategorized Fonte Ciarlotto where 17 riders broke free. Estonian Tanel Kangert (Team BikeExchange) was the best placed on GC at +5:37. By the foot of Cat. 3 Forca Caruso, the break’s gap was 2:18.

Again, Antoine Duchesne was prominent at the front of the peloton for Groupama-FDJ.

Geoffrey Bouchard (France/AG2R Citroën) was a fugitive hoping that the escape would make it up Cat. 2 Ovindoli, as he was edging closer to the mountains classification lead. The platoon started the climb with a 3:30 lead. Ineos took over the front of the peloton. Bouchard survived a decanting of the breakaway to tip over Ovindoli first and nick the KOM jersey from Gino Mäder.

Twenty-one kilometres remained and it started to rain.

The Graveled Conclusion

Various teams were at the front of the favourites group. Deceuninck-Quick Step even tried to form echelons in the headwind.

Bouchard headed onto Campo Felice solo, with a small chase group 22 seconds behind and the peloton 1:50 in arrears. Ineos took over from Movistar. Valter was at the back of the group.

When he reached the gravel, Bouchard’s gap to Dutchman Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) was wee. Bouwman reached the Frenchman at the red kite. The maglia rosa was dropped from the GC gang.

Bernal attacked and flew past Bouwman and Bouchard with 400 metres remaining. Giulio Ciccone and Alexandr Vlasov were the closest riders to the Colombian. Remco Evenepoel came in fourth place.

Monday is a sprinter’s stage before the first rest day.

2021 Giro d’Italia Stage 9
1) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) 4:08:23
2) Giulio Ciccone (Italy/Trek-Segafredo) +0:07
3) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Astana-Premier Tech) s.t.

2021 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) 35:19:22
2) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +0:15
3) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Astana-Premier Tech) +0:21