Before concluding the Giro d’Italia’s first week, the riders tackled a major challenge on Sunday in stage 9. Heading towards Siena, the “Strade Bianche” literally blew the peloton apart. While Kevin Geniets was able to hang onto the group of favorites for a long time, and secured thirteenth place at the finish, David Gaudu was lost several minutes. This, however, should offer new opportunities for the Frenchman over the next two weeks.
For the second time this season, the Piazza del Campo was set to welcome the cycling’s cream of the crop. After the Strade Bianche in March, stage 9 of the Giro stopped in Siena on Sunday, on a day relatively similar to the Italian Classic. From Gubbio, the peloton initially had to cover nearly one hundred kilometres without any proper difficulties, but then nearly thirty kilometres of white paths were waiting for them over the last seventy kilometres. More precisely, most of the gravel roads followed one another between kilometre 110 and kilometre 145, which suggested an early battle. The tension indeed increased a lot as the first sector approached, which then led to the first splits in the bunch. “We knew it was going to be a hard day for everyone, but it was even more so than we imagined because it actually exploded very early,” said Thierry Bricaud. “We knew that David didn’t have great memories of this course and that he was coming back with a lot of apprehension. He was a little scared on the descents, and rightly so, and the team stayed around him to try to limit his losses.”
“A new Giro is going to start”, Thierry Bricaud
As for Kevin Geniets, he managed to catch the first peloton, then took a place in a second group of favorites when a crash caused a split at the front. Five men escaped, including Wout Van Aert, Isaac del Toro, and Egan Bernal, and the rider from Luxembourg found himself with the rest of the GC contenders. At the finish, he crossed the line in thirteenth position, 1’18’’ behind Van Aert, the stage winner, and Del Toro, the new pink jersey. David Gaudu finished about five minutes later with the previous GC leader, Diego Ulissi. “He’s certainly seven minutes behind in the general classification tonight, but that will also give him some freedom in the upcoming mountain stages,” concluded Thierry. “Now we’ll have to recover well and look ahead to what’s next. A new Giro is going to start. David will have opportunities and could move up in the general classification if all goes well. The Giro continues!” Before that, a well-deserved rest day is coming up on Monday on the Tyrrhenian coast.
