The Colombian realizes a masterpiece in the last kilometer of Campo Felice.
Egan Bernal won the ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia, Castel di Sangro-Campo Felice, of 158 km. In second place, at 7 “, Giulio Ciccone, third is Russian Aleksandr Vlasov and fourth, at 10”, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel. Bernal also won the pink jersey.
WHAT A BATTLE- Five climbs, four GPMs, a dirt road finish. Attacks and counter-attacks last over 70 km. Towards the Colle della Croce Hermans and Vanhoucke, Pellaud and Battistella, finally Bouchard try. Then, on the descent of Barrea, are Lafay, Mader and Cataldo, followed by Caicedo, Jorgenson and Hermans. They don’t allow a large group of echappes go away, it’s too dangerous.
FEAR OF MOHORIC- The first serious shakeup occurs along the climb to Passo Godi, the first GPM of the day (won by Mader). 25 escaped but were caught. Then Bouchard, Cataldo and Fabbro impose another make a break. They attack the UAE Emirates of Ulissi but above all Caruso. Teammate Mohoric was victim of a terrible downhill fall fortunately with a helmet to save his life . After the scare, the leaders are pulled back by the group by the attacks of Bilbao and Guerreiro.
THE ESCAPE- The escape is finally formed when the finish line is 80 km away. The attacks by Bouchard and Carr were decisive. A group of 17 riders formed at the steep slope of Fonte Ciarlotto including Fabbro, Zana, Ulissi and Visconti. The peloton slows down, with the pink jersey Attila Valter leading it. The escape explodes along the climb to Ovindoli, and where Visconti quits.
BERNAL’S MASTERPIECE- The stage is decided on the dirt road of Campo Felice . At -5 km Bouchard escapes, but is caught by Bouwman right at the sprint. Then masterpiece of Ineos, which sees the pink jersey Attila Valter in difficulty and decides to sink them. Moscon leads his partner Bernal, who burns Bouchard and Bouwman in the last kilometer, pedaling faster than all the other big names ( Ciccone, second. Then Vlasov and Evenepoel third and fourth). Attila Valter, late in the group, kisses the pink jersey at the finish. He has to leave it, now it’s Egan Bernal’s.
Stage 9
1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 4:08:23
2 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:0:07
3 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech
4 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:0:10
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-up Nation
General
1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 35:19:22
2 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:0:15
3 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:0:21
4 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:0:36
5 Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ 0:0:43
6 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 0:0:44
