Giro d'Italia Stage 9 – May 18th, Lugo - Sestola 172km **Unmasked Spoilers**

dastardly00

Stage 9 – Sunday May 18th, Lugo - Sestola 172km (***)

The first 110km are flat. The peloton will then tackle three climbs. The Cat. 3 climb up to Sant'Antonio which is 13.2km at an average gradient of 3.7%. After the descent, next up is the Rocchetta Sandri, 8km in length at 3.5%. There is a very short descent and the final climb begins. The Passo del Lupo (Cat. 2) is 16.5km at 5.5%, with ramps up to 13%.

I don't think Nairo Quintana will launch an attack here, and Evans will be happy just to control things. It'd be great to see Pozzovivo actually attacking, but I think he'll wait to later on when the race reaches the Dolomites. So I think we could see a similar finish to Stage 8. An uphill sprint between Dani Moreno and Diego Ulissi could be on the cards.


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Weather - Lugo: Sunny. High 25C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 kph. Sestola: Partly cloudy. High near 16C. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 kph.

Stage Betting: Diego Ulissi 9/2; Nairo Quintana 11/2; Cadel Evans 8/1; Domenico Pozzovivo 12/1.

Live TV coverage on Eurosport1 from 1.30pm. Highlights on Sky Sports 3 at 8pm and Eurosport1 at 11pm.

Live text ticker here.

MPFG

Maybe Arredondo will stay with peloton today and make attack before finish.....like to see him win one

Breakaway could stay away as well if BMC don't chase and it would help them if breakaway took bonus seconds ....Chris Anker Sorreson has ear marked this one but I guess a few pros will be up for the break

Dr. Bre

Ulissi for a third maybe

Lusk_Doyle

Worlds most boring first 100kms of a bike race EVER!

Dr. Bre

cyclingnews says there was crash in peloton causing a split, wonder if its back together now

Dr. Bre

breakaway formed - the group are Julien Berard (AG2R La Mondiale), Enrico Barbin (Bardiani CSF), Marco Bandiera (Androni Giocatolli), Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocatolli), David Tanner (Belkin), Oscar Gatto (Cannondale), Leonardo Duque (Colombia), Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida), Jonathan Monsalve (Neri Sottoli), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol), Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) and Davide Malacarne (Europcar).

godtabh

Dr. Bre wrote: »

breakaway formed - the group are Julien Berard (AG2R La Mondiale), Enrico Barbin (Bardiani CSF), Marco Bandiera (Androni Giocatolli), Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocatolli), David Tanner (Belkin), Oscar Gatto (Cannondale), Leonardo Duque (Colombia), Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida), Jonathan Monsalve (Neri Sottoli), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol), Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) and Davide Malacarne (Europcar).

That's a big breakaway. If they work together they could stay in front. I

dastardly00

It's looking like the break will make it at the moment. 58km left with a 7min 33sec lead.

MPFG

yawn

Hope Lampre or someone takes it up as otherwise nothing much is going to happen

Nedkelly24

what's with all the yapping in the peloton ......

CptMackey

michael mathews looking sore.

boring stage tho

dastardly00

Classic quote from Kelly when he saw that Michael Matthews had ripped bib shorts after a crash:

'He's gone from pink jersey to pink backside'

dastardly00

It's all kicked off now! Pozzovivo on the attack!

dastardly00

Pieter Weening wins the stage.

Pozzovivo gains ~26 seconds on the maglia rosa group.

pelevin

At last a GC man - though only loosely - Pozzovivo does something. Find the lack of action from the rest pretty irritating. Quintana surely can't be feeling good as yet. Given Ullissi himself was surprised to be involved yesterday tells us there isn't anything all that impressive being done by the main men. As Evans just said in interview, "GC guys afraid to put it on the line."

MPFG

Possovivo is very good GC man and I expected him to attack yesterday but may have got some stick for not...but he did it today & jumped to 4th

Quintana is still not at his best I think......

Funny to see him having a set to with Petacchi .....who is old enough to be his father...

dastardly00

I'd say they are all pretty fooked at the moment because of the crap weather and crashes. There's a rest day tomorrow and then a completely flat day the next. Hopefully the action will pick up when they hit the mountains later next week.

MPFG

I don't think they are all fooked ...BMC are going well , Uran & Kiserloski & Pozzovivo , Ullissi , Kelderman not too bad either

Katusha, Movistar, TCS, Astana are beat up alright

Not sure about Basso ...but I think he will do well in final week

Seemingly Philip Deignan is beginning to feel good and hopefully can start from next weekend to go in the break and chase a stage

dastardly00

Edwin Avila (Team Colombia) finished outside the time limit today.
He was competing in his second Giro. He finished 8th in the stage into Dublin.

Lusk_Doyle

dastardly00 wrote: »

Edwin Avila (Team Colombia) finished outside the time limit today.
He was competing in his second Giro. He finished 8th in the stage into Dublin.

Aren't they all mountain goats on that team? Or was he unwell?

dastardly00

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Aren't they all mountain goats on that team? Or was he unwell?

Seemingly he had stomach problems.

Brian?

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Aren't they all mountain goats on that team? Or was he unwell?

Isn't he their "sprinter"?

Pudsy33

Yeah, he's a world track champion apparently.