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.
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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.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://ift.tt/22blGIo
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