Giro d’Italia Stage 9 Race Report: The strade bianche stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia was always going to be a spectacle. At the end of a dynamic gravel stage, Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) crossed the finish line in Siena first. The Belgian beat Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG) after the two had dealt with the others. Del Toro took the pink jersey from the dropped Diego Ulissi as his teammate, Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hhansgrohe) lost time.
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Stage 9 finale
The 2025 Giro d’Italia has a Strade Bianche stage. The finish, just like the one-day race, is in Siena. The finale is also the same, with the Colle Pinzuto and the finish line in the Piazza del Campo.
There is only five sections sterrati in the stage. With 70 kilometres to go, the riders hit the first sterrato, the Pieve a Salto, a stretch of 8 kilometres with some climbing. The second section is over 9 kilometres long and comes very soon after the first. There is another stretch of 9 kilometres, before the Strade Bianche finale. It could be a dangerous stage for the GC men.
Diego Ulissi in pink at the start
Surprisingly the ‘break of the day’ was formed quite quickly. Kaden Groves attacked at kilometre zero and took his teammate Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R) and Milan Fretin (Cofidis) with him. Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) and Luke Lamperti (Soudal Quick-Step) went after them. In the peloton there were a few attempts to get across, but the peloton stayed together. Van der Hoorn and Lamperti successfully closed the gap and the six leaders worked well together, but were not allowed to get too far away. The peloton, led by Q36.5 Pro Cycling, kept the escape in sight.
The early ‘break of the day’
The Swiss team had one of the favourites, Tom Pidcock, and took responsibility for the chase. The lead quickly dropped below 2 minutes, but the break kept pushing hard. On the first climb of the day (4.3km at 7.5%) to La Cima, De Bondt took the KOM points. On the descent of the La Cima climb Fretin crashed on a sharp bend, but the Cofidis rider managed to rejoin the break. The first gravel section of the day, the 8 kilometre sector of Pieve a Salto was on the horizon. In the run-up to this section, the nervousness increased in the peloton.
Q36.5 and XDS Astana were in control of the peloton
The race was now on as Mads Pedersen, for Giulio Ciccone and Mathias Vacek, split the peloton to pieces. Most of the GC riders were ready, as were Wout van Aert and the other possible stage winners. There had been one important victim: The pink jersey, Diego Ulissi, the pace was too high for him to hold on. The Italian was dropped and he didn’t see the front of the race again. The leading group had also split as Groves and Hermans left the others. What was left of the first chase group wasn’t far behind. Pedersen’s acceleration had reduced the lead of the two Alpecin men to 45 seconds.
Quinten Hermans and Taco van der Hoorn in the break
On the first gravel section, most of the GC riders were prepared and so the damage was manageable, but before they turned onto the second section to Serravalle, there was chaos. Michael Storer (Tudor) crashed into his teammate Florian Stork.
The dust of the strade bianche
Can Ulissi hold his pink jersey?
Wout van Aert back to his winning ways
Stage winner, Wout Van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike): “It’s easy to say this victory means a lot to me. I almost can’t explain it. It had to be here I believe. This place is where my road career started in 2018. To win this stage after a long period without delivering… To do it again, it feels so good. Del Toro did such an amazing ride. I felt bad to not cooperate fully with him because he’s also a competitor to my team-mate Simon Yates on GC. I had to leave the work to him and I had fight all the way to the top of the streets of Siena. I know the final pretty well. I needed to do the move in the last few corners. I almost missed the last one but the experience of Strade Bianche helped me win today.”
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Giro d’Italia Stage 9 Result:
1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike in 4:15:08
2. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 0:58
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Simon Yates (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:00
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
7. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 1:07
8. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Grenadiers at 1:10
9. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers
10. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Emirates XRG.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 9:
1. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG
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