The first week of racing at the Giro d’Italia will come to a close with the second time trial of the race. Stage 9 of the corsa rosa will see the riders travel 40 kilometres through the beautiful Chianti countryside.
The course is both technical and hilly with a downhill run towards the line in Greve in Chianti. If that wasn’t challenging enough, the predicted rain will be another factor for the riders to take into account.
Despite suffering a poor day in the saddle over the white roads near Arezzo on stage 8, former race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) remains one of the favourites. Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) missed out in the opening time trial in Apeldoorn after falling sick days earlier but he has battled through the illness and will be keen to take his first ever Giro d’Italia stage win. Etixx-QuickStep’s Bob Jungels will be one to watch as will stage 1 surprise Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Tobias Ludvigsson.
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This time trial will be key for the general classification contenders as the Giro approaches its toughest terrain. Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) was a strong finisher in last year’s long time trial. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) may also go into the day with reasonable confidence after past performances. Mikel Landa (Team Sky) and Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) are more likely to be looking to minimise their losses ahead of the big mountains.
Giant-Alpecin rider Cheng Ji will start the day’s racing off, rolling down the ramp at 12:40 local time. New race leader Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-QuickStep) will be the final rider to start his test at 16:16. Brambilla has a slim 23 seconds over Zakarin in the overall classification and will face a tough fight if he wants to remain in pink for the rest day but a good result here will keep him within touching distance of the jersey in the mountains.
Look below for a full starting order for the Giro d’Italia stage 9 time trial.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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