Giro d'Italia: Roglic wins Chianti time trial

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Primoz Roglic (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) took a surprise win in the Giro d’Italia stage 9 time trial after a heavy rain shower hampered the chances of the overall contenders.

Roglic, who finished second in the opening time trial, was the 42nd rider to start the undulating 40-kilometre course and used his speed - as well as the dry roads – to set the fastest time of 45:29.

Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx - Quick-Step) pulled off another superb ride, saving his maglia rosa at the death, and holding a one second lead into the rest-day over his young teammate Bob Jungels.

Although the race lead remained on Brambilla’s shoulders the most established GC contenders had varying degrees of success and failure in the race of truth. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) may have finished ahead of his principle rivals but he was only able to put 11 seconds into Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and seven into Mikel Landa (Team Sky), who both rode consistently through the Italian countryside. So too did Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNl-Jumbo), who finished three seconds behind Landa.

Rafa Majka lost 43 seconds to Nibali in the fight for pink but he came through relatively unscathed. Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEdge) rode above himself but still lost closer to two minutes.

Worse was to come for Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha) who started the day with a strong chance of taking the race lead. He looked on course for at least a strong ride until a crash midway through the stage. He changed bikes soon after but fell again inside the final kilometre, his GC ambitions severely dented on day in which he was expected to shine.

Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) arguably had the worst day of all. The Colombian had been a major force in time trials of this nature for the last few years but he consistently lost time and crumbled completely after a crash, finishing four minutes off the lead and nearly two minutes down on Nibali.

Brambilla leads Jungels by just one second with Andrey Amador (Movistar) in third at 32 seconds. Kruijswijk is fourth at 51 seconds and leads Nibali and Valverde by two and four seconds respectively.

Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) who threatened to run away with the Giro a few days ago had another forgettable performance but his time trialing skills were enough to move him back into the top 10, from 11th to seventh. Landa sits in 8th at 1:18 with Majka and Jakob Fuglsang completing the top 10 overall. Uran, Zakarin and Chaves all dropped out of the top 10.

Video Highlights

How it unfolded

After the early skirmishes of the first week the 40 kilometre time trial provided a major test for the riders aiming for the GC. When the race route was unveiled last year Nibali, Uran and Valverde would have pinpointed the importance of today’s stage but like every Giro d’Italia there were far more angles and plotlines and characters who would play a part in this ever changing show.

Fabian Cancellara (Trek Segafredo), riding in his final Giro was aiming to win a stage, while Tom Dumoulin was looking resurrect his Giro ambitions – in the time trials at least – after a surprise capitulation on stage 8. However it was the weather that ultimately played the biggest role on stage 9.

More in this story:

• Giro d'Italia stage 9 - Finish line quotes
• Giro d'Italia stage 9 - Video highlights
• Cancellara abandons Giro d'Italia

The dry roads saw Roglic confirm his newfound talent at time trialing with a consistent, rapid display over a course that tested riders precision and expertise as well as their brute strength.

He was seventh at the first time check, with Amador starting the strongest. By that point, only 11.6km in Majka has lost 50 seconds and Uran over a minute, while Nibali, Landa and Valverde were all within ten seconds of each other.

At the second split Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) who would ultimately finish second on the stage, posted the fastest time as further down the time gaps began to grow as the weather worsened for the late starters.

Dumoulin and Zakarin were within five seconds of each other, as Valverde opened up a brief gap on Nibali and Landa. Jungels continued to impress and was only 16 seconds off the stage lead.

At the third check, positioned at the top of the last climb and before the sweeping descent Roglic had moved back into the lead. Cancellara was not quite on the level required but for Zakarin and Uran the picture was even bleaker – both of them around three minutes down with almost ten kilometres still to go.

Zarakin’s first crash was not picked up by the television cameras, but his resulting bike change certainly was. He was already limping to the line when, on one of the final bends, he slid out, and came down for a second time.

Through all this the one man who remained the calmest was Brambilla. He finished 17th and ahead of Nibali and only seven seconds down on Dumoulin to keep his fairytale Giro d’Italia alive for at least one more stage.

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