Giro d’Italia 2026 Stage 9 Last 10 Kilometers

An easier pace here, they're not concerned about out front at all, they're just keeping it safe here and it's going to be a one now as we go into this final. If there's anybody who wants to do something they have to get moving because two minutes of this time with the guys they have out in front it's looking like that it could be the day the breakaway managed to hold on. Robbie as we see Mileysi struggling here, just keeping around the Malla Rosa and then the Malla Bianca. Of course sitting quite a long way down was Eulalia but right at the back was Giulio Pellizzati. That's a concern at this point in the race when you're on to the foot of the final climb that is where if you've got the legs you are in position you've got teammates getting you in position that's not a good sign for Giulio Pellizzati. Confirmation the six four and two seconds red four kilometer out the way. 18 seconds then to the three chasers we saw Mileysi was struggling and maybe it's soon two chasers and it's 1.39 now to the Malla Rosa group but again it'd be good to have a little bit more of a look at them. It's our Italian host broadcasters in that traffic but to concentrate plenty on Ciccone here at the front. 10kms to go, how you see it Sean? Well it looks like it's going to be between those two guys here and I would be confident he's just tapping out that pace here with two knots in his wheel but I don't think he's able to get back because if he was feeling good enough I think he would have reacted when the two men that are up the road he would have went immediately just you know make that big effort for a short period and not have to chase here and now he's in the position where he's setting his own pace we can see the gap the gap is growing out but yeah waiting for the peloton is there going to that is the big question now and that's what those guys are hoping here the two that this will go on and on for a long time before did anything stir up in the peloton. Well plenty of time on the side of the peloton this is a the current record in fact is 31 minutes and 10 seconds on this climb on Strava set by Luca Covilli member of the Bardiani CFS Sabre 7 team he's not riding in this Giro but he has ridden the Giro last year so around a half hour climb to defend a minute and a half it's very doable for the peloton and I think once it really heats up and the best of the best start to make their mark it's going to be incredibly difficult for these two to hang on is it heating up though we've seen Callum Scotson return to the front Gregor Mühlberger is on the wheel Felix Galle will wait shown this is what they seem to set up to to do today I guess now's the time to execute it if they're going to be trying to finish what they started yes and uh what did they set up that is the big question you know I think it's more for the general classification and if that's the case you know they're going to ride to a point with Callum Scotson then we will see Mühlberger taking up and then it will be up to Felix Galle and to finish it off but you know how far will these guys be able to continue on for him that is the question and uh yeah if they do continue at this pace for a number of kilometers well then the advantage to the breakaway should hold up I think they're speeding up here because you can see the bunch is smaller the maglia rosa the maglia bianca trying to move up but it's stringing out more just what you said trying to move up not making much of an impression that you could see peletari really was trying to move up then and then he just sort of got bobbed couldn't get up any further and it's starting to string out in front this this is a real push now from the riders who were left for decathlon and the gap's gone down to 119 very very quickly here we've seen one kilometer of scottson pushing on not even that yet actually and this is the result a lot of the riders and the director sportives have been talking about this climb of only being really hard in the last two and a half three kilometers before that they said it's going to be hard to get rid of anyone because the gradient's not all that steep there's still an element of being able to sit in the wheel and get a slipstream and even this section here little dip down maybe that's why they're starting to wind it up now because they know they're going to run out of road pretty quickly there's as many as three downhills in this climb yeah and these are sections you don't really take time back on the brake or you've really got to be pushing hard and these two have found each other good cooperation swapping even turns keeping the pressure on the pedals across these flat sections really important we've been racing for four hours now average speed at 44 today 176 kilometers into this stage eight remain uphill once more chicor net rubio and the rest follow at 1 minute 14 with a reminder that artisan alicia at 20 seconds still no pelizzani with henley at the front this is the time to be able to move up get a teammate to make an effort on this flat section carry some speed just a matter of finding that clear road as you go through this twisting section there's pelizzario still but seven eight riders from the back of the bunch what about the man yet also sean you're happy with why he's moving up down there on the right hand side yes uh he moves a lot he just slips back and then suddenly he just comes up with a flush and arrives in the top four or five riders in the front of the peloton but yeah it's always a risky one when you sit back there if there's a uh a rider that really you know put in the attack then the gaps will open and you have to close all these little gaps that riders you know leave between each other it is a risky one but yeah depending on how you're feeling as well it's you know easy to say move up but if you haven't got the legs and that is going to be the interesting one pelizzari as well i think he has a little bit of a habit of sitting a bit further down i'd be surprised if we don't see chicorny going first he's not acting as a teammate at all the rubio it's not going quick enough for him so he decides to go quicker himself giulio chicorny striking out a home on one of the steepest sections 7.5ks to the finish he may have wanted to wait longer but the pressure coming from behind and the gap down to less than a minute and a quarter now chicorny he's been forced to go if he wants to win this stage it's got to be an all-out effort from here sean you think that as well that the the advice has come from the car that now's the time to go yes i think uh you know he knows that that's the information he's getting and he's been told by uh the team director as well to be you know too too tight and uh you know you have to go now or never because uh yeah just uh you could just uh you know if you get caught in this final a couple of kilometers so you have to try it from far out and yeah this is going to be the one although on a climb when you're climbing your own you set your own pace if you're feeling quite good yeah it's probably the best way to you know attack this final 7k rubio not responding directly to that attack with his own acceleration trying to ride his way back into the wheel like he did after the first one chicorny's at that point now he's just paying the little price that there is for a big acceleration like he did he needs to try and maintain the gap get the heart rate down a little bit dissipate that lactic acid then settle into a higher rhythm that prevents rubio from getting back in the wheel this is where he goes down the block onto the big ring again because downhill another of those short downhills picks up the pace a roller coaster this for now i think it's where chicorny also has the advantage over ruby on these little flatter faster sections he's a slightly larger rider a bit more just pure grunt of power that will allow him to open the gap when it's a little bit flatter and down and he's a really good rider downhill chicorny haven't seen the peloton again for a little while but the gap is at 108 now rubia hauled at five seconds there's the maya rosa he is further up this time the maya bianca still further down and it's visma now who've returned to the front to take over yet again i suggest that scottson's done well there's still a number of decathlon riders they're behind but visma taking a greater interest in the stage now and well look like they're going to do their best to mow down the leaders and if jonas vinegaard is going to have to ride the time trial in blue well he might as well do it with an extra stage win already in the pocket scottson is gone so it's just muhlberger in front now of felix gal milesi radioing in in the meantime the situation to rubio up ahead and jonas vinegar wow it's a luxury position for him he has got firepower aplenty he's still got a minute and nine to bring back on this man she corn is going to start climbing again now problem is it doesn't let up anywhere near as much now it just gets steeper and steeper all the way that last three kilometers of gradients 11 and a half and up to 15 so it just gets harder as it goes it always gets harder as it goes the effort starts to tell they rise up and almost smack in the face this was his attack surveys the damage and off he rides up the mountain 12 seconds into rubio now one minute 11 to the peloton just over five kilometers to go but sean the hardest part's coming yes it is coming but again uh you know if he is uh you know really feeling good and he's a lot more left in the tank he can keep this pace going and uh then it depends on back in the peloton now who is going to start you know open the pace here is melissa biker starting to wind it up and if they disappear you know will he be being go you know will he go on the attack that is the question he might just sit back and wait for the others and yeah that will pay play the advantage here for chicory that's what he'll be hoping that you know there's not be that battle between the gc men and more so uh being in go out putting in these uh you know these big attacks quite a long ways out but yeah 113 at the moment five kilometers to go yeah he's going to have to have uh a lot of left in the tank to hold on it'll be about 13 seconds here are visma i look behind to see the magnados are further up and he's backed up by two riders from bahrain remind you that the one rider remains for gal well at his disposition you must be or has four men in yellow a white jersey we think still towards the back the rest of his red bull bora hansgrohe team are there and they're further forward with jai hindley they're now moving upright inside as we look at it conversation between piganzoli and vigo hindley on the wheel of ben's v off there rubio he still got him in sights but the gap is opening just second by second getting a little bit larger for the lack of trying for moby star so far at this duel that's 400 meters between the front of the race and the main peloton but chicory fighting his way to that three and a half kilometer to go mark that's where we get the next flatter section and then slight dip down within that take a few deep breaths wind up the speed and then that final three kilometers is a real brute part of the lemon at the front right now come on artists after that biganzoli and cous remain as well white jersey still sitting at the back and the gap going down a 103 now nail-biting stuff visit the judo rather than the bombastic show of yesterday this is more a tense affair we're watching we're waiting we're wondering it's gone below a minute now and look at what's to come ah that's the final three case 15 percent yeah the final 3k the last part of this climb really has some teeth and chikuni he'll know it but it won't stop him fighting with everyone with everything he's got when he loves to get to the finish and do his iconic throw away of the sunglasses victory salute cop the fine that comes along with it oh there's such a long way it might only be four kilometers but it's going to seem never never ending for chikuni and they're bearing down on him 56 seconds they'll just be about be able to see him he'll look down the mountain he'll get glimpses of the chasing peloton halfway into his effort four k's to the top now through that banner we're seeing it from brubio's perspective here 16 seconds is his gap remember he won that stage in switzerland didn't he from montana comes to 18 now bunch at 56 we're told kudos to chikuni whatever happens well he definitely uh went at a time when it was a surprise i think to a lot of the riders and certainly a surprise to me i didn't think of that you know launching pad that was there but he you know took advantage and uh got uh into the front end of the race and uh yeah he's in a really good position now but he's going to have a lot of work to do and depend on how he is if he's you know calculating his effort here and just keeping it going he's thinking about the sections coming up and it will depend on what happened here now with the peloton will the base hacks or will they you know start looking around when the uh the domestiques disappear from the leaders will they be looking about it i don't think peli dotty's on a good day i don't think peli's on a good day is he's got aliotti dropped back to look after him and this could be danger and alarm bells ringing victor company might be getting a sniff of this as well because he's just the back of the group he's never left the back of the group as riders have dropped out of it but never looking like being able to come forward now if giulio ciccone can put in the same sort of performance that he did on block house the other day he lost a minute 40 there on the entire climb and the finale the the attacks kicked off with over five kilometers to go here we go keep peli's daddy's having to work he's having to close every gap for the minute he's surviving but this could be the moment that he starts getting into a bit of trouble the wheels let go by enric mas who again again becomes the headline gc name to let go early on but it looks as though sean kelly might be about to be joined by giulio peli's daddy yes he is and i think uh visually it's a boycott starting to ramp up the pace here because that's uh you know tell the guys are losing contact and you can see the way the riders are just at the rear here they're really all giving that effort to stay in and yeah 49 seconds it is coming down uh yeah for this man out front is it going to be possible to hold on such a slim lead three kilometers to go i'm afraid it's not going to be the day for chicory it's going to be so close but meanwhile back there with belly sorry everyone's been asking red bull bora hansgrohe who's going to be the leader will it be giant will it be julio and they've always said the road will decide this is the corner a la scala deciding i was reading daniel benson's sub stack yesterday and he was saying he'd be talking to red bull and their management have been saying on a stage like this somebody always shocks somebody always surprises somebody has a bad day it'll come when you don't expect it unfortunately it's one of their own riders and here comes felix gar decathlon want this as well and they can see that pelizzati is having a bad day they really want to stick it to him now yeah it's not visma lisa bike worrying about pelizzati but it's uh felix garland his team decathlon eliminating one of the contenders and that gap is now massive 20 seconds already yes well you can see the way it's going on the front end of the group of they're really ramped up the pace and yeah they know this man is a difficulty and they're going to take it here decathlon of course you know they have worked for uh this all day today so they're taking advantage when they see it's a possibility could set mass in trouble we saw that as well as well as pelizzati jeez close to the back here scaroni as well remember start of the day in fourth place he's biting his teeth he's gritting them he's trying to hold on up above ahead of him we'll keep an eye on that they're just 26 seconds now away from giulio ciccone and this is turning into a general classification fight to the finish as we see gaps opening up maybe at the front and the mightier also has to watch out as well here's felix gal he moves he goes vignola's on the wheel at the moment there's no one else in the picture adamsman will try as will jai hindley yeah but they've had to watch the gap open up as gal accelerates with vina guard over the top of anna rubio which means they're only 20 seconds or so behind giulio ciccone this is a big power move from felix galli's teams worked all day he wants to give return on investment gal had the pressure placed on him and at the moment he's responding in kind remember it's not just vignola his rival his main rivals may be realistically further down and he's putting time into them ahead of the time trial yes what he's doing i think what they set out to do to try and you know take advantage of this man's shape because we see uh phyllis gal on blockhouse he was excellent and again you know here he's the one who really pushes on now and uh yeah which being a garden toe and he is going to put time into his main challenges of course yeah we know time trial is coming up he wants to take as much time as possible but when you're in real good that's the time to try and go and take advantage felix gall riding a different climb tactically to what he did on blockhouse there he followed as long as he could but stayed within his numbers and rode tempo to reduce the gap to vinegar here he's the aggressor he's made the big big acceleration question is can he deal with he's just down to himself and can hindley adams and the others tempo their way back onto the wheel of felix gall it's almost half a at the moment a reminder it was three minutes 15 the gap that el alio had on vigo at the start of the day there are two kilometers remaining just under and chicorny continues to battle on now coming across so adams month didn't initially try and really go with the big acceleration he's not a punchy climber but he's gone into that time trial style of climbing ride his numbers and stay consistently in that zone chicorny at the front gal on the way he asked the question of vignola a moment ago he got a negative answer so he has to continue and uh you know this is uh he's uh he'll take it on now and uh if he goes not going to take up and the pulling he just have to continue on he's he's opened the gap and uh he's doing what i think the team was uh preparing for him all day so he has to go on and do it well chicorny is biting in now we know what the fans want one of them got too close here chicorny getting a little bit of push off as well they want a chicorny win but he's been caught by the favorites had now dropped chicorny was reached chicorny has been distanced and they might get also distanced by 37 seconds this is now serious time being put into giulio pellizzati just already a good day for phoenix gal yes well big gc contenders and uh yeah he's just uh continued on to walk away as we see further down the mountain at the pink jersey stroking here and uh yeah we can see the lot of henley just up in front store up there g they're all just uh fighting to get this final 15 600 meters over uh and chicorny chapeau to him he did a magnificent ride today but unfortunately it kicked off that a little bit too early on this line with any chance to go for the stage win pellizzati's can try to salvage what's left and damon adamsman is climbing in the general classification here 26 seconds from the lead to the maglia rosa group very good job being done by afonso ulalio in his defensive pink and yes he will wear that through the rest day and into the time trial on tuesday but felix gall with a show of strength backing up what his team's done all day but he needs to be careful that he doesn't put himself in a position where vinegar is just going to explode out of the wheel and smash it with an extra 20 seconds 1033 days since he last won a bike race that was at the tour de france on its hardest steepest climb they've come up to 15 and gall is being forced by vigor to keep pedaling keep putting up the power they're chasing behind at 20 seconds they're just over half a minute in the maglia rosa group and tamon adamsman is doing really well yes he is doing well he's just walking away after them but the mayor also i think it's a bit further down than that at 34 seconds when you look back down that mountain you know you cannot see him and you know the time it clicks away very very quickly how we can limit his last year but felix gals he's just trying to coax having a go to take torton on the front but he's not taking it at all and there is going to be a point where he will just you know kick for the stage win but gal he has to just continue giving his all here he's in the position now where he's going to make time on his gc contenders yeah gall is doing the right thing he's got to do it but you look at the faces of the two riders gal looking in self-inflicted agony and jonas vinegar looking calm and composed inside the final kilometer all the way up to cornerless scarlet for the first time in 22 years and it's the first time jonas vigor has ever been to the judo he's already got one stage win he now attacks and looks like he's about to ride away to number two gals try to react but we know that's not his thing the explosive efforts the little bursts of power he needs to settle in and vignore having sat on and waited has now gone for the kilometer yes we can see he's just riding away meter by meter here and gal he just have to you know keep on giving all the way to the line now and uh yeah take what's uh available in the general classification time wise that's what he set out to do and yeah just uh get to the line as quickly as possible record for this climb 31 minutes 10 seconds it's going to be absolutely pulverized it will be annihilated as has been most of this field felix gall brilliant ride but jonas vinegar god a man small in stature but showing his head and shoulders above the rest gal turning up and he has been great at this judo so far he remains in the shake-up and in the mix but the danes are there and they are delighted the euro will look around they'll see more distance and he's about to see another line on his extensive palmares 49 wins in professional cycling before today he's now got stages at all three grand tours he's hoping to win another grand tour and he's laying yet another strong foundation on today's race he won the only summit finish so far and he's about to double up here two different types of climbs today's rivals took control but video at the following and following has delivered the killer blow finish line ahead and it's 50 up for jonas video he wins again at the judo phoenix cow once more's in the fight he's done brilliantly and after taking control puts time into the rest of his rivals but the count now continues what's the gap to those with he's right with ironsman and he might even nab the bonus seconds oh he is flying and visma as a team are now seizing this judo it's piganzoli punching the air and what about the ladies and gentlemen he's gonna have a lead of almost three minutes going into the rusty there is g there's stora that's cous this is henley rondelle chicone and we wait for the likes of bernal pelizzari mass and the rest headline name is jonas ringer your gal is up there to fight with him but afonso olalio is not gonna give up lightly