Perfect in Pink: Conti takes Leaders Jersey into rest day

UAE Team Emirates’ Valerio Conti will remain in the Pink Jersey at the Giro d’Italia, taking it into the first rest day.

Today’s stage, a 33.4km Individual Time Trial (ITT) saw Conti finish with a time of 55:26, in what were difficult conditions for all riders. The Italian finished 3’34” behind the stage winner, Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma), who climbed to second place in the General Classification (GC) standings and closes the time gap to Conti, which now sits at 1’50”.

There were also positive individual performances from UAE Team Emirates’ Jan Polanc (1’55”) and Diego Ulissi (2’08”) – who finished the stage 12th and 15th respectively, and both climbing in the GC standings.

Commenting on the stage, Valerio Conti said: “As planned, I did not take any risks, especially with this unbelievably bad weather. I raced the entire time trial in the pouring rain. It was hard to see, I tried to keep focus and to push hard on the climb. My goal was to retain the pink jersey and I achieved it; I made that promise to my teammates. We will spend the rest day in pink, which is great”.

Riders will now take a day to rest, before hopping back on their bikes for Stage 10 on Tuesday morning. The 145km route is almost completely flat and a bunched sprint finish is the most likely outcome.

Stage 9 Results:

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo Visma 51’52”

2 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto-Soudal  +11”

3 Bauke Mollema (NL) Trek – Segafredo +1’

12 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates +1’55”

15 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates  +2’08”

38 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates +3’34”

General Classification after stage 9:

1 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates  35h08’32”

2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo Visma  +1’50”

3 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale  +2’21”