Dunne, Dunbar through first Giro phase as high mountains approach

The Champ: Conor Dunne is his usual positive self at the start of the TT today. He's got nine stages under his belt and a rest day to come, and then it's down to the next phase of Giro d'Italia 2019

Ireland's Eddie Dunbar and Conor Dunne both have tomorrow's rest day to look forward to after nine hard stages in Giro d'Italia 2019.

While the racing has been relatively flat so far, some of the stages have been very long and fast.

Today's stage 9 TT was run off in wet conditions for most, with the 38.4km test into San Marino featuring a climb to conclude.

The stage was won by Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) by 11 seconds from testing specialist Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal).

But for a mechanical just 1.5km from the finish, followed by an awful bike change, Campenaerts would have won.

Eddie Dunbar is still smiling. He's traveling well through this Giro and can look forward to the hillier terrain that begins next Thursday

Both Campenaerts and Roglic were well ahead of the others; big GC hope Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) losing 3:11 and finishing way back in 31st.

Related News

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) limited his losses to 1:05; a performance that keeps him solidly in the fight, though Roglic looks supreme.

Advertisement

Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) began today's TT in the pink race leader's jersey. He finished in 38th, some 3:34 down.

But given the time he gained in the stage 6 breakaway, he still leads the race; by 1:50 from Roglic.

Neither Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos) nor Conor Dunne (Israel Cycling Academy) needed to ride flat out today as they are not riding for general classification.

Dunbar finished in a very decent 54th place, some 4:29 down. Dunne was in 119th place at 7:05.

After tomorrow's rest day they have two flat stages before the big mountains suddenly appear on this year's course.

Valerio Conti started stage 9 in pink and still has it, securing a huge amount of publicity for himself and his team in what is, in reality, their home tour.
Can anyone stop Primoz Roglic? Barring a meltdown in the high mountains, which is not impossible of course, he looks unstoppable. But there's still a long way to go.
But for a slipped chained - and the worst bike change we've seen for a long time - Victor Campenaerts would have won the stage 9 TT. Instead, his first ever Grand Tour stage win slipped through his fingers and he lost out by just 11 seconds to Roglic.

Topics
frontpage

Related News