Alaphilippe’s attack failed again on stage 9 of the Giro. Kooij takes his maiden victory

Today’s stage was full of breakaways just as expected before the start. Frenchman Jualian Alaphilippe attacked again, but was caught with about 7km to go. After that, it looked like Jonathan Nárvaéz was going to repeat his victory from the opening stage. However, he was caught in the final metres and Olaf Kooij from the Netherlands took his maiden victory.

A stage made for breakaways

The stage from Avezzano to Naples was 214 km long. For the first time this year, the cycling peloton had to cover more than 200 km in one stage. Tadej Pogačar even set off a spurt for his Emirates stablemate Molan about 500 metres before the finish. However, he failed in the spurt with Milan and Kooi.

Jonathan Nárvaéz, the winner of the opening stage, was very close to a second stage triumph, but a few dozen metres from the finish a group of riders came through him and battled it out for the win.

Of course, today’s stage didn’t shake up the overall standings in any significant way. Tadej Pogačarcontinues to hold the race leader’s jersey and Jan Hirt rounds out the top 10.

The 11th man in the standings, Alexey Lutsenko from Astana, did not start today’s stage as he withdrew due to illness. With about 26km to go, Jualian Alaphilipe became very active and went into a breakaway with six riders.

He then went on alone and was swallowed up by the peloton with less than 7km to go. Immediately afterwards, it was Nárvaéz who went into the breakaway and for a while it looked like he might even celebrate success. But just before the finish he was caught by the pack.

Tomorrow the cyclists have a well-deserved day off. But the day after, the peloton will face a tough test. Although the stage is only 142 km long and starts in Pompeii, the finish is in Cusano Mutri with a nearly 18 km climb to the finish, which is rated category 1.

So once again it’s going to be one hell of a test and you can expect attacks from the top cyclists in the overall classification. Will it be a hunt for Pogačar? Or will the Slovenian give seconds to his rivals again?

Giro d’Italia – Stage 9 (Avezzano – Naples, 214 km)

• 1. Olav Kooij (Niz./Viasma Lease) 4:44:22, 2nd Jonathan Milan (/it./Lidl – Trek), 3rd Juan Sebastian Molano (Col./UAE Emirates), 4th Alberto Dainese (It./Tudor.), 5th Danny van Poppel (Niz./Bora)…..50. Jan Hirt
• Standings
• 1. Tadej Pogačar 32:59:04
• 2. Daniel Felippe Martínez -2:40
• 3. Gerraint Thomas -2:58
• 4. Ben O’Connor – 3:39
• 5. Cian Uijtdebroeks -4:02
• 10. Hirt -5:53

Source: CyclingNews, Giro d’Italia