As it happened: Evenepoel wins Giro d'Italia stage 9 by one second

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia.

Today's individual time trial route is 35km in length and has been described as 'perfectly flat' by the organisers, so it should really suit Remco Evenepoel. 

Team DSM's Andreas Leknessund has worn the maglia rosa for five stages, but it's likely today will be the last, with a big reshuffle of GC positions expected.

There will be a number of time trial specialists hoping to challenge Evenepoel for the stage win today, including Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), but Filippo Ganna is out of the picture after his withdrawal from the race yesterday with covid.

Going into the stage, the four jersey holders are as follows:

Maglia rosa (leader's jersey): Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM)

Maglia ciclamino (points jersey): Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious)

Maglia azzura (mountains jersey): Davide Bais (EOLO-Kometa)

Maglia bianca (young rider's jersey): Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM)

The white jersey will be worn today by Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), who currently sits in fourth place in the standings.

Besides Evenepoel, there are a number of the top GC contenders who have a strong time trial, including his closest rival Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma), the Ineos Grenadiers pair of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas, and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates). 

These riders will all be looking to limit their losses against Evenepoel today.

The first rider down the ramp for today's time trial Veljko Stojnić of Team Corratec-Selle Italia, at 1.15 CET. There are 164 riders remaining the Giro d'Italia, and the final rider down the ramp will be Leknessund, at 4.28 CET.

It's raining in Savignano sul Rubicone - the wet conditions are not ideal and riders will need to balance risk and reward on slick tarmac this afternoon.

And we are underway, with first Veljko Stojnić and second Stefano Gandin taking to the course for Team Corratec-Selle Italia.

Unlike the stage 1 time trial in which riders or their teams selected their own start times, today the schedule is dictated by the overall standings, with riders going off in reverse order.

A number of riders are out on course now and it's clearly going to be a tricky day out there, with standing water on the roads, and a number of roundabouts and turns to contend with. While there are no climbs and it's mostly straight roads, there are still challenges to be overcome if riders are to make it safely round the course.

Heading out at one minute intervals, there are already 11 riders out on course, but it will be a little while before any ITT specialists roll out for their opportunity.

With just a minute between each rider, there are likely to be a number of riders catching and passing their minute man on a time trial of this distance. Trek-Segafredo's Daan Hoole already has Stefano Gandin in his sights.

Veljko Stojnić passes through the first time check and sets the bat at 16.42.

Behind him, Hoole has passed Gandin.

Ignata Konovalovas (Groupama-FDJ) becomes the 20th rider to roll out onto the course. The rain begins to fall a little more heavily again - it's grim out there today.

Mark Cavendish sets the second fastest time so far at the first intermediate time check. He's not a man who'll be fazed by the conditions today.

Much of the pre-stage speculation surrounded Remco Evenepoel. Following the double crash on stage 5, what kind of shape is he really in? If he has been nursing injuries there will be nowhere to hide today, on a stage he will have circled as another one to take more time on his rivals. 

If he is in good shape - how much time can he gain? In the opening time trial he finished 29 seconds ahead of the next major GC contender, João Almeida, and 43 seconds ahead of Primož Roglič, arguably his closest rival. And that stage was only just over half as long as today's.

The first rider out on course, Veljko Stojnić of Team Corratec-Selle Italia.

Two Soudal-QuickStep riders are currently out on course, with Davide Ballerini setting the new second fastest time at the first intermediate time check, 16.04.

South African national champion Stefan de Bod is arguably the first time trial specialist to take to the course. He is the 34th rider to set off and he rolls down the ramp resplendent in his national champions kit.

Two minutes after De Bod, Team Jumbo-Visma's Edoardo Affini is the 36th rider to roll down the ramp - a former Italian champion, he too will hope to be competitive today.

Another rider from Team Corratec-Selle Italia, Brit Charlie Quarterman, sets the fastest time at the first time check - 15.52 is now the time to beat. 

We await the first finisher, and with Daan Hoole closing in on Veljko Stojnić with 7km to go, it looks as though he will be the first to finish.

The first of the leader's jerseys to roll down the ramp on stage 9 is the maglia ciclamino, Jonathan Milan of Bahrain Victorious.

Team DSM's Alberto Dainese catches and passes his minute man, Stephen Williams of Israel-Premier Tech.

Daan Hoole becomes the first rider to complete the course, and sets the early fastest time at 44.47. He will be the first occupant of the hotseat, and one can only hope there are plenty of warm drinks and blankets waiting for him. 

Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan Team) out on course on stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia.

Edoardo Affini sets a new fastest time of 15.19 at the first intermediate time check.

Michael Hepburn (Team Jayco-Alula) takes a series of the bends extremely gingerly, proving how hazardous the course is, especially at higher speeds. 

A number of riders have now completed the course, but Daan Hoole remains in pole position. However, Charlie Quarterman remains consistently ahead of him at the intermediate time checks so we may be in for our first change shortly.

45.06 is the time of Alan Riou (Arkea-Samsic). He passes his minute man as he comes through the finish line, to move into second place overall as it stands.

Current leader at the first intermediate time check, Jumbo-Visma's Edoardo Affini is still out on course, but is on course for a stint in the hot seat.

Stage 5 winner Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) takes to the course. He recently won the Volta Limburg Classic in similarly torrid weather conditions so will be unconcerned by the rain.

As expected, Charlie Quarterman sets a new fastest time of 44.15 to become the second rider to take to the hot seat. An excellent showing for his team, Team Corratec-Selle Italia.

Alex Kirsch will be unseating Charlie Quarterman shortly if he makes it round safely - he's taken nearly a minute off of the fastest time at the third intermediate time check.

Kirsch does indeed set the fastest time, but with Edoardo Affini hot on his heels, he will have barely sat down before he's unseated. Affini is the man to beat - he sets a time of 42.41.

The youngest rider in this year's Giro d'Italia, Matthew Riccitello, rolls down the ramp.

Michael Matthews (Team Jayco-Alula) drops his chain just under 5 minutes into his effort - he has to dismount and take a bike change.

Affini's team mate Rohan Dennis, the former Australian champion, is now out on course. He could challenge for the win if he's feeling good.

Michael Hepburn displays the consistent quality of Team Jayco-Alula's current time trial set-up by shaving 4 seconds off of Edoardo Affini's time to set a new fastest time of 42.37.

The current maglia azzura Davide Bais rolls down the ramp to take on the time trial course.

Ecuadorian national champion Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-Easypost) takes on the stage 9 individual time trial.

There are an array of national champions among the riders of this year's Giro d'Italia.  Dutch champion Bauke Mollema is now out on course. The veteran rider for Trek-Segafredo has really embraced the discipline in the latter stages of his career and he could go well today, in a year when he is capable of completing the Grand Tour trilogy - winning a stage of each of the three Grand Tours.

100 riders have rolled down the ramp and the fastest time remains that of Jayco-Alula's Michael Hepburn.

EF Education-Easypost's Magnus Cort Nielson becomes the 101st rider to take to the course, which is remaining consistently wet.

Nico Denz (Team DSM) sat in the hot seat for a while in stage 1's time trial, so expect a strong performance from the German rider today.

Another national champion - Estonia's Rein Taaramae - proudly displays his colours out on course - how many does that make now?

We've had: De Bod (South Africa), Caicado (Ecuador), Mollema (Netherlands) and Taaramae (Estonia) and with Latvia champion Toms Skujins and Australian champion Jay Vine still to come, plus a few more I'm sure, it's a fine pedigree that we have on display.

Hepburn is certainly enjoying a long stint in the hot seat, with no-one troubling his time since. Brandon McNulty may be in with a chance; the UAE Team Emirates man has just set off for his attempt.

Another one! Of course, yesterday's stage winner Ben Healy is Irish national champion. EF Education-EasyPost really do a fantastic national champions' jersey - images to come.

Expecting a fast time from Jasha Sutterlin of Bahrain Victorious - he's coming in hot, following setting new fastest times throughout the course, and will run Hepburn close. Here he comes...

Oh! He doesn't look like he's going all that hard and misses the time of Hepburn by 3 seconds.

On the subject of national champions, we have of course got the Belgian national champion still to come in Remco Evenepoel, so too Germany's Lennard Kämna.

Not a terrible performance from Michael Matthews given he had to take a bike change - he finishes in provisional 18th position. 

His countryman Rohan Dennis is next to come through - he misses out on the hot seat but enters the top 5, in provisional 5th place at 43.32.

Two more national champions are out on course - Bob Jungels of Luxembourg and Bruno Armirail of France. We've also had Derek Gee who is Canadian national champion. A truly global array of class.

A huge opportunity for Stefan Küng - he will hope to challenge for the stage win, on a course which suits his capabilities. He has just set off.

Meanwhile, Bauke Mollema sets the new fastest time at the second intermediate time check.

OK suggestions flying in on Twitter for the national champions question, we've also had Erik Fetter from Hungary who rides for EOLO-Kometa - I feel like I need to compile a complete list. 

Ben Healy is clearly very trusting of the arrow-straight roads of the course as he rides with his head tucked right down - he will hope to set a good time and follow up yesterday's incredible solo stage win with another strong ride.

Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) passes his minute man - he anchored his team to an impressive TTT second place at Paris-Nice, missing out on the stage victory to Jumbo-Visma by just one second and taking the leader's jersey in the process.

Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) sets a new fastest time of 42.23.

Meanwhile French champion Bruno Armirail sets the new fastest intermediate time at the first time check - 15.05. 

Stefan Küng immediately breaks that fastest time, hot on the heels of his team mate Armirail - 15.00 is the new high bar at the first time check.

Lorenzo Fortunato (EOLO-Kometa) is the 140th riders out on course. From rider number 149 onwards (Hugh Carthy), the time gap between the riders will shift from one to three minutes.

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) means business on stage of the Giro d'Italia.

We are into the business end of proceedings, with Thibaut Pinot rolling down the start ramp and just 17 more riders to depart the start in Savignano sul Rubicone.

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) is having a great ride, setting the second fastest time at the second intermediate time check.

Meanwhile, Hugh Carthy sets off, and we now move to one rider setting off every three minutes.

Brandon McNulty comes through just one second slower than Bauke Mollema - that was close!

While only 18 seconds separate the top 5 in the provisional standings, there is 1.23 currently between first place and 10th place. Expect these gaps to narrow as more riders cross the line.

Jay Vine, UAE Team Emirates' Australian national champion, is out on course and will be hoping to prove he is fully recovered from his recent knee injury troubles.

Yesterday's stage winner and Irish national champion Ben Healy crosses the line in provisional 13th place. Not a bad result given his exertions on stage 8.

Bruno Armirail is absolutely flying! He goes 42 seconds faster than Mollema at the third time check and unless something goes very wrong, he'll unseat the Dutch champion.

And Stefan Küng goes through the same time check 4 seconds slower than his team mate. It will be bittersweet if Küng cannot overturn his own team mate today but Armirail is on an absolute scorcher of a day.

The roads are drying out a bit and the rain has stopped but apparently, the wind has picked up somewhat. 

Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) approaches the finish. By how much time will he beat Bauke Mollema?

It's an incredible performance from the French champion, he takes nearly a minute from Mollema and sets a provisional fastest time of 41.32. Can his team mate Stefan Küng better him?

He can! Bittersweet instead for Armirail, who won't even have time to sit down in the hot seat, as Stefan Küng immediately becomes the fastest rider so far.

41.28 is the time to beat. There are a great many strong time trialists still to ride among the GC contenders, so it will be a nervous wait for Stefan Küng who so often finds himself the nearly man in his specialist discipline.

More riders roll in and don't trouble the time of Stefan Küng, although Luis Leon Sanchez set a strong time of 43.05 to put himself into the top ten, in provisional 8th place.

French champion Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) sets the fastest provisional time but is shortly ousted from the top spot by his team mate Stefan Küng.

Thymen Arensman of Ineos Grenadiers sets the second fastest time at the third intermediate time check and will push Stefan Küng close as he enters the final few kilometres of the course.

Meanwhile, Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) is also looking steady, setting the 4th fastest time at the first time check.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) is out on course, and just four riders remain until all our competitors are out on course.

A strong performance from Movistar's Will Barta, who moves into third with a time of 42.16.

It's going to be a real battle between the GC contenders and the time trial specialist Stefan Küng. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) sets an impressive time through the first time check.

At the other end of the course, Thymen Arensman can't quite challenge Küng, coming in with a time of 41.48, 20 seconds down and in provisional third place.

Primož Roglič is now out on course. After a good but not exceptional performance on the stage 1 individual time trial, it will be fascinating to see how Roglič fares over a longer course.

Second last to depart the start ramp is the Belgian champion, the road World Champion, the former maglia rosa and current second placed rider at this year's Giro d'Italia, Remco Evenepoel. He's out on course - now we wait.

Hugh Carthy puts in an incredible ride in a discipline that isn't his best, setting a time of 43.03 to land in provisional 10th place. A great day for the EF Education-EasyPost rider.

The final rider to take to the course is the current maglia rosa - Team DSM's Andreas Leknessund. He is counted down and rolls down the ramp - now all the riders are out on course.

A day to remember for Ineos as Laurens de Plus finishes in provisional 5th place, while Tao Geoghegan Harts chips one second off of the fastest time as he passes the first intermediate time check - game on.

Following his team mate, Geraint Thomas sets another new fastest intermediate time at the first time check. 

Meanwhile Jay Vine completes a strong ride to finish in provisional fourth place.

Can Remco Evenepoel make good on the small losses he incurred in yesterday's stage 8? Read our analysis here.

As expected it's been a good showing so far for the top GC contenders. Stage 9 is heading towards a nail-biting finale.

Australian national champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) on stage 9 of the Giro d'italia.

Current GPS time checks suggest that Remco Evenepoel is already 27 seconds up on Primož Roglič - it's not a brilliant start for the Jumbo-Visma rider; he can set only the 8th fastest time at the first intermediate check.

Remco Evenepoel is flying. He becomes the fastest man through the first intermediate time check.

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) comes home in a time of 42.15 to slip into provisional 5th place. A strong time trial from the German champion to keep him well within touching distance of the general classification.

Damiano Caruso is not known for his time trialling of late, but he's put in an excellent ride today, and he moves into provisional fourth spot with a time of 42.06. A really strong statement from the Bahrain Victorious rider who came second in the Giro GC two years ago, in 2021.

It's fascinating to see every single GC rider pulling out all the stops to produce some seriously impressive time trial performances today. Now Aleksandr Vlasov shows his hand, moving into provisional fourth spot with a time of 41.54. Both Bora and Bahrain have shown the teams of the top favourites that they are not going to have things all their own way.

Unbelievably, Geraint Thomas equals Tao Geoghegan Hart's time at the third intermediate time check - they are both fastest, and it's now that Stefan Küng's exceptional performance over the final segment of the course will have to count, if he is to hold onto the top spot.

There are just 7 riders left to arrive in Cesena and complete today's 35km time trial.

Tao Geoghegan Hart breaks Stefan Küng's heart, beating his time by just 2 seconds to move into provisional first place. Can Geraint Thomas beat his team mate?

Primož Roglič is warming up to the task, getting quicker and setting the 6th fastest time at the third intermediate time check. 

Geraint Thomas takes the lead! He shaves another second off of Geoghegan Hart's time. An absolutely storming day for the Ineos Grenadiers.

Yet another rider goes through the third intermediate time check at 34.05 and it's Remco Evenepoel. This is going to be extremely tight.

Almeida goes through the finish line in provisional 7th place - perhaps not the day out he would have hoped for.

Primož Roglič is closing in on the finish, just 1.3km to go.

Primož Roglič approaches the finish line. Let's see how he stacks up against his GC rivals.

He goes through the line in provisional 5th place, in a time of 41.41. He loses 16 seconds to Geraint Thomas and 14 to Geoghegan Hart - how much will he lose to Evenepoel?

Two riders are left out on course - the former maglia rosa, and the current one.

Remco Evenepoel arrives at the finish. Can he better Geraint Thomas?

He does it by 1 second! He will take the stage win and re-take the maglia rosa.

The maglia rosa finishes in 19th position, a creditable ride from Andreas Leknessund, who will relinquish the jersey going into the rest day.

Just 8 seconds separate the top 5 riders on today's stage. It's been a day of big performances from all of the GC contenders.

As expected, there will be a reshuffle in the general classification following today's time trial - full results to follow.

Winner of stage 9 and new race leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).

So, the current GC standings see Remco Evenepoel regain the maglia rosa, with Geraint Thomas moving into second spot, 45 seconds in arrears. Primož Roglič sits in third currently, a further 2 seconds back, with Tao Geoghegan-Hart moving into 4th place, 50 seconds behind Evenepoel. 

There's a small gap after that to João Almeida in 5th, who is tied with outgoing maglia rosa Andreas Leknessund on 1.07. Vlasov, Caruso, Kämna and Sivakov fill out the rest of the top ten in a day that has seen the expected shake-up - though perhaps not by the great margins many expected. 

Stefan Küng: 'what can I say, it's the story of my life. Always missing out, closely.'

Remco Evenepoel wins stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia.

The time difference between Evenepoel and Thomas at the finish line? Just 0.09 seconds.

Read all the details of how the stage 9 ITT went down in today's stage report.

Remco Evenepoel retakes the maglia rosa at the 2023 Giro d'Italia.

Thanks so much for joining us for today's action. I think we've all earned a rest day, but do join us again on Tuesday as the Giro d'Italia resumes for Stage 10, a 196km flat stage from Scandiano to Viareggio. Hope to see you then.