Nairo Quintana left several of his rivals behind on the final climb to win stage nine of the 2017 Giro d’Italia and take the overall leader’s pink jersey but Geraint Thomas saw his general classification hopes dashed after a crash involving a police motorcycle.
Approaching the final ascent to Blockhaus the Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) clipped the motorcycle, which was stopped on the side of the road. The ensuing collision caused Thomas and Orica-Scott’s Adam Yates – second and third at the start of the day – to lose significant time on the new race leader. Thomas, who appeared to suffer a shoulder injury in the crash, finished the stage 5min 7sec behind Quintana.
“It’s ridiculous. That shouldn’t happen,” Thomas said after the race. “We were all racing for the bottom of the climb. Next thing I know someone in front of me hits the motorbike, we go down. My shoulder popped out as well,” Thomas added, as reported by Press Association.
“I felt good, then I crashed. That was it. Race over. It’s really disappointing. I’m a bit angry at the minute.”
NO!!
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 14, 2017
Most of @TeamSky, including @GeraintThomas86, are taken out by a police motorbike 😱 #Giro100 pic.twitter.com/iPJg7iXo4K
Those GC contenders not caught up in the incident progressed on to the final climb, with the final 10km at an average gradient of 9.4%. The leading group began to drop several riders with 8.5km to go, including Bob Jungels, who had held the pink jersey since stage four.
Quintana, supported by his Movistar team-mates Andrey Amador and Winner Anacona, led the way with Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) clinging on until the Colombian attacked on the steepest part of the climb. Quintana finished 24 seconds clear of Pinot and Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) fourth as Nibali faded.
“I showed that I’m happy with my legs and the legs of my team-mates,” Quintana said. “The whole team was strong and I was strong.”
He dedicated his victory to the 2011 Giro champion, Michele Scarponi, who died after a collision with a van while training last month. “There’s still a long way to go in the Giro. We’ll get to know in the coming days if the 30-second lead I have over Tom Dumoulin is much or little but I feel good. That’s the most important for now.”
Quintana, winner of the Giro in 2014, now leads the general classification going into the second rest day. Tuesday’s stage is a 39.8km individual time trial from Foligno to Montefalco, and an opportunity for time-trial specialist Dumoulin to cut his 30-second overall deficit on Quintana.
Stage nine results
1 Nairo Quintana (Movistar) 3:44:51” 2 Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) +24” 3 Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) 4 Bauke Mollema (Trek) +41” 5 Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain) +59” 6 Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) +1:16” 7 Tanel Kangert (Astana) +2:01” 8 Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) +2:20” 9 Sébastien Reichenbach +2:28” 10 Davide Formolo (Cannondale) +2:35”
Overall
1 Nairo Quintana (Movistar) 42:06:09” 2 Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) +28” 3 Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) +30” 4 Bauke Mollema (Trek) +51” 5 Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain) +1:10” 6 Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) +1:28” 7 Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) +2:28” 8 Davide Formolo (Cannondale) +2:45” 9 Andrey Amador (Movistar) +2:53” 10 Steven Kruijswijk +3:06”
