The Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) won this Sunday in the 9th stage of the Giro d’Italia, a 35 km individual time trial in Cesena, and recovers the pink ‘maglia’ of the leader of the race, followed in the general by the Welshman Geraint Thomas (Ineos) and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo).
In the rain and on a cold day, Evenepoel was less expeditious than on previous occasions but won the stage ahead of two Ineos cyclists, Thomas and fellow British Tao Geoghegan Hart, whom he beat by just one and two seconds respectively. .
A small consolation for the powerful British formation, which on Saturday saw how the Italian Filippo Ganna, double time trial world champion, did not start after testing positive for covid-19 and losing the opportunity to score victory this Sunday, to which He arrived as a great favorite to win the stage.
It is the second victory in this Giro for the reigning long-distance road world champion, after the one he gave up in the prologue, a week ago, also in a time trial.
But on a flat route that benefited him, as well as the distance, the last winner of the Tour of Spain marked fewer differences than expected and led Roglic by “only” 17 seconds, called to be his great rival for the final victory.
The 23-year-old Belgian did not hide his disappointment when he crossed the finish line: “I did not manage this time trial well. I started too fast and it was difficult for me to recover after the first part. I did not respect the planned plan at the watt level”.
Evenepoel knows what he is talking about, as he is a specialist in this discipline, having finished in the top three in the nine time trials he has contested since 2019.
“It’s not the result I expected. It’s still a stage victory, but obviously it wasn’t the best time of my life,” insisted the current rainbow jersey, although this Sunday he ran in the Belgian time trial champion’s jersey.
Four cyclists in 50 seconds
Overall, Evenepoel leads Thomas, winner of the Tour de France in 2018 and who can also aspire to the podium in the remaining two weeks of the race, by 45 seconds, and Roglic by 47 before the first day of rest this Monday.
The Belgian cyclist, who already showed signs of weakness on Saturday, did not end the first week of the Giro with the best feelings despite recovering the pink jersey that passed to the Norwegian Tobias Leknessund for five days (from Tuesday to Sunday).
Evenepoel was counting on making a sufficient difference in the three scheduled times in this Giro to defend himself on the Roglic mountain, especially with the Dolomites waiting in the third week.
And now he must not only watch out for Roglic, but also for the powerful Ineos, who, in addition to Thomas, has Geoghegan Hart just 50 seconds from pink and can play both tricks. Even the Frenchman Pavel Sivakov (10th at 2:58) could get into the fight by attacking by surprise.
“I know that the Ineos team will have a plan to attack me, but I have confidence in my team,” the Belgian insisted.
Thomas himself, winner of the Tour in 2018, admitted that “it is positive to be there with Tao; he promises for what remains.”
The Welsh veteran (36 years old), however, had a bittersweet taste of the day: “Being so close to winning… It’s the fourth time I’ve finished second in a Giro time trial, it’s starting to be too much.”