As it happened: GC stars put on a show as gap to pink shrinks again after stage 9 of Giro d'Italia 2026 - Cyclingnews

2 Comments Join the conversation When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: © Getty Images) Jump to: Results Have your say 184km to go 160km to go 150km to go 140km to go 130km to go 120km to go 100km to go Attack! 70km to go Intermediate sprint (Marzabotto) 30km to go 20km to go KOM (Querciola) Attack! Red Bull Kilometre 10km to go Attack 5km to go Attack Flamme Rouge Attack Giro d'Italia 2026 - Preview Giro d'Italia: Jonas Vingegaard sends signal to rivals with solo stage 9 victory atop Corno alle Scale Get notified of updates Good morning and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia! We'll be here all day with all the updates and actions from what is set to be an exciting day of racing, the last one before the first (proper) rest day. The Corno alle Scale is 10.8km long, but with the Quesciola climb coming right before, there's actually a good 21km of climbing to finish the stage. Want a deeper preview look at the stage? We've got you: Giro d'Italia stage 9 preview - Will high drama atop Corno alle Scale see the pink jersey change hands? Once you've read the preview and looked at the profile, don't forget to vote above on who you think is going to win the stage! Even better, let us know in the comments how you think the stage is going to play out. It is very likely that we will see a breakaway succeed today for one simple reason. Jonas Vingegaard will not want to ride the ITT on Tuesday in the blue KOM skinsuit. He leads the classification by one point over Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-Visit Malta) thanks to his win on Blockhaus. There are a maximum of 59 points available today but they all come right at the very end of the day. Everyone in the top 11 of the KOM classification can take the jersey but most are top GC riders. It will be a difficult race to balance for Visma-Lease a Bike. The riders are due to start racing after the neutral zone at 12:50 local time. The riders will start the neutralised section in about 5 minutes. We are expecting a chaotic start with multiple riders battling to get into the break of the day. Visma-Lease a Bike will have to be on high alert so riders like Enric Mas (Movistar), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche), Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost), Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) and others don't get in the break of the day. And, if they do, manage the gap sufficiently to let them go all the way but to also not gain massively on their Danish leader as well as dropping pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) along the way, The riders have started the neutral zone and are roughly 10 minutes away from racing. Jerseys and other Giro competitions after stage 8: Pink - Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious)Purple - Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep)Blue - Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)White - Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious)*Int sprint - Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre)Fuga - Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-Visit Malta)Red Bull KM - Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre)Team - Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe It is a beautiful roll out for the riders in a very sunny Emilia Romagna. However, the forecast for the final climb says we may have temperatures at around 4 degrees Celsius! Racing begins with Uno-X Mobility sending two riders up the road immediately on the national day of Norway! Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre also kick clear in their home region as well. Max Walscheid is leading out his Lidl-Trek teammate Giulio Ciccone in an attack. Also, Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche) is in that group. Interesting early tactics with Decathlon-CMA CGM getting Oliver Naesen up the road as well. Forming a breakaway on a major summit finish day in a Grand Tour is really like a game of chess. The riders close back together again as Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) hit the front. Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) launches for the second time. They will be very keen to get Christian Scaroni into the days break. The rider who finished last yesterday, Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Premier Tech) joins Ballerini alongside Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar). They have 11" gap on the bunch who are looking to have stalled in their pacing for now. Uno-X Mobility starts chasing but Andrea Raccagni (Soudal-Quickstep) launches to try and force a new break. The counter moves continue to stall with Milesi, Planckaert, and Ballerini still hodling 14" on the peloton. Ecuadorian and Colombian champions of Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) sitting at the back as the peloton have really eased on the pace with the leading trio now taking their gap to 24". Filippo Turconi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) and Ludovico Crescioli (Polti-Visit Malta) try to move but then Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) tries to lead out Giulio Ciccone. That sees points jersey Paul Magnier and teammate Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep) coaxed out of the bunch. Walscheid tries to take Ciccone clear but as the race splits, Visma-Lease a Bike send Tim Rex across with James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost). And, of course, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are all over that and the game gets another reset. Walscheid continues the pressure with Ciccone locked onto his wheel. Behind, Unibet-Rose-Rockets try to go clear as Antonio Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) starts to get involved for the first time since Bulgaria. And it is back together with just Ballerini, Milesi and Planckaert still 28" clear as Picnic-PostNL and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre start the game again. So many riders have tried to bridge to the trio out front but now the gap goes beyond 40" as the peloton sits up again. Pinarello-Q36.5, EF Edcuation-EasyPost, Uno-X Mobility and Movistar all keen to be up there as well as Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre and Polti-Visit Malta. More moves go clear with Unibet-Rose-Rockets, Alpecin-Premier Tech, Uno-X Mobility and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre going clear with Lidl-Trek trying to chase but as Walscheid swings off to encourage Ciccone to kick across, the move pulls away further. The new activity in the peloton sees the gap to the leaders drop to around 25" again. More riders continue to try and bridge to this new move as Crescioli does make the bridge. More moves go clear as that counter was caught. Milan joins with Magnier latched onto his wheel again. Milan's purple shadow. Lidl-Trek miss the move with Ciccone and can't bridge the gap as this new counter move appears to be going clear. Another new move comes from the peloton, though. Yesterday's runner up, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) goes clear but has a string of riders following. Planckaert has sat up from the lead group and joins the chasers to make a group of 10 behind the two leaders. Interesting that Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) has made it into this chase group as he is in the fight with Sevilla for the Fuga prize for most kilometres out front of the race. He also leads the intermediate sprint and Red Bull kilometre competitions. However, that is all brought back with Ballerini and Milesi out front by 33". A new attack from Morgado. He has a long line of riders following him but a group of 8 gets a good gap. That move doesn't last long, though. Groupama-FDJ United are keen to join in which brings the peloton back to them. The peloton splitting into multiple groups out front but Morgado and co sit up as it comes together again. Maltese rider Andrea Mifsud (Polti-Visit Malta) goes clear with Larry Warbasse (Tudor) trying to follow. Mifsud gets a gap but is quickly closed again. Marcellusi goes again with a teammate on his wheel taking a few others with them but, again, the peloton comes back as Milan and his Magnier shadow come out of the bunch again. Milesi and Ballerini have 22" on the peloton who are still being peppered by a plethora of attacks. Einer Rubio (Movistar) goes clear with a man from Uno-X Mobility and Picnic-PostNL as Alpecin-Premier Tech try to send a rider across. Rubio is the first climber to actually make a gap on the peloton. A couple more riders break free of the peloton and the bunch looks to have sat up and that appears to be that! The break may be sorted for the day as multiple teams have riders up the road. Lidl-Trek the main team missing the split. The peloton goes round a huge roundabout and Picnic-PostNL with Gijs Leemreize and Unibet-Rose-Rockets going on an attack with the peloton trying to block the road again. Einer Rubio (MOV)Lorenzo Milesi (MOV)Mattia Bais (PTM)Martin Marcellusi (BCF)Tim Naberman (TPP)Davide Ballerini (XAT)Sakarias Koller Løland (UXM)Jonas Geens (APT) Leemreize and his Unibet Rose Rockets rider partner have been caught by the now Lidl-Trek led peloton with Walscheid trying to chase for Ciccone. The open front of the peloton means that there is still space for new attackers as well with Picnic-PostNL unhappy with just having Naberman out front when riders like Rubio have made it in there as well. Milan attacks and gets away without Magnier with him. That sees Soudal-QuickStep hit the front of the peloton to chase down the big Italian sprinter. This isn't good news for the leaders as they gap drops slightly. Milan sees Soudal-QuickStep chasing and decides to pull the pin on his effort with Decathlon-CMA CGM taking over on the point of the pack. Almost a minute to the eight leaders. The peloton is back to being one long line again as teams are unhappy about missing the break or not getting the right riders up the road. Out front, the break are working together well with everyone coming through to take their turns. The gap is just sat under a minute to the peloton, though. Picnic-PostNL and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre go again and, this time, it looks like the peloton has fully sat up and this will be the break of the day. These new attackers have about a minute to bridge, though. The counter attack is from Tarozzi as well as Chris Hamilton. The frustrating thing for Visma-Lease a Bike is that not one of the riders in the break are dangerous in the KOM classification. If the break is to go the distance they would've wanted the blue jersey to be taken from them as well. If someone in the break took the maximum 59 points in the KOM standings today they would slot into third place one point behind Sevilla and two points behind Vingegaard. After an hour of racing the average speed is said to be 44.7kph. The leaders have about a minute on Tarozzi and Hamilton with a further minute back from them to the peloton. The leaders have 1'22" on the chasing duo and 2'20" on the peloton. There is a very long flat part of this stage with a brutal sting in the tail. The riders out front now have their team cars up with them and are taking the opportunity to take on gels, bars, bidons etc as they settle into the day. It looks like Tarozzi and Hamilton have given up on the chase as the gap goes beyond two minutes. They can now drift back to the bunch. And now the race shows it's true colours. Decathlon-CMA CGM hit the front of the peloton with a high tempo being set. Bahrain Victorious sit behind the sole rider from Decathlon-CMA CGM with Visma-Lease a Bike also following behind them. Tarozzi and Hamilton get caught with the gap to the leaders just under three minutes. This is a stage for the GC riders whether Vingegaard wants it or not. The one bonus for Visma-Lease a Bike is that they will probably take the stage in this scenario and maybe put another big chunk of time into Eulálio as well. The gap is coming down for the break with 2'42" splitting them and the peloton led by Decathlon-CMA CGM. Jonas Vingegaard doesn't want to be all conquering like Tadej Pogačar was in 2024. He just wants to win the race in an sustainable way with the Tour de France on his calendar as well... >>> 'Most important we win GC, it's not a goal to dominate' – Emulating Pogačar's all-conquering Giro d'Italia not a focus for Jonas Vingegaard with pink as priority The gap continues to fall. The break now have 2'32" on the bunch. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are currently finding it difficult to manage the balance between former Giro winner Hindley and young Italian up-and-comer Pellizzari... >>> 'Jai is a bit older, maybe also a bit wiser' – Red Bull try to maintain balance between former winner Hindley and unrestricted home star Pellizzari at Giro d'Italia The peloton have really got this breakaway on a tight leash now with just 2'25" splitting the eight out front and the Decathlon-CMA CGM led bunch. The peloton is in one long line thanks to Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (Decathlon-CMA CGM) setting a high tempo. The gap continues to sit at 2'34" between the break and the peloton. The pace remains high with 90km to go and 2'25" gap between the groups. The breakaway now only have 2'04" on the peloton with the pace being incredibly high. Enjoying our live Giro d'Italia race coverage?