On a day when Jonas Vingegaard put on another show of strength at the Giro d'Italia, Australia's former champion Jai Hindley has demonstrated why he looks strong enough to take on the sole leadership of his team.
Vingegaard, the race's overwhelming favourite, triumphed for the second time in three days on Sunday, racing away over the final kilometre on the final ascent to Corno alle Scale to annex the ninth stage at the end of a tough first week.
He left the rest of the overall race favourites scattered on the mountain behind him, though Afonso Eulalio defied expectations to finish an unexpected battling fifth, 41 seconds behind, to hold on to his leader's pink jersey, as he still leads the GC by 2min 24sec from the great Dane Vingegaard.
But it's expected Vingegaard will eat into that advantage substantially when, after a much needed rest day on Monday, the riders return for Tuesday's 10th stage, a 42km individual time trial from Viareggio to Massa.
There were, however, other significant moves on Sunday's demanding 184km trek from Cervia being made by others with their eyes set on a podium finish - including leading Australian hope Hindley.
Felix Gall, the Austrian who's looked best equipped to challenge Vingegaard, finished only 12 seconds behind the Dane after attacking on the final climb and passing Giulio Ciccone, who'd ridden away from the breakaway.
But while Hindley couldn't match Eulalio and eventually came home ninth on the stage, 50 seconds behind Vingegaard, the most significant aspect of his day was how he distanced Giulio Pellizzari, the young Italian star who is his co-team leader with the Red Bull BORA-hansgrohe team.
Pellizzari blew up on the final ascent and ended 22nd on the day, 38 seconds behind Hindley, who's back up to fourth in the GC.
With Red Bull having figured that whatever happened on the road would decide who eventually takes the team's leadership, this felt like a significant moment with the 2022 champion Hindley now 43 seconds ahead of the much touted 22-year-old.
Vingegaard, though, looks a cut above the rest, again too good for his rivals just as he was atop the Blockhaus two days ago.
He has a 35-second advantage over third-placed Gall, and 2min 8sec lead over Hindley. Two other Australians remain in the top 10, Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), who's 31 seconds behind his fellow Perth rider Hindley and Michale Storer (Tudor pro) who's a further 17 seconds behind.
"We are where we wanted to be, obviously," Vingegaard said. "I'm in a good situation at the moment for GC (general classification) and so far everything is looking good for us. And we're happy where we are."
