Giro d'Italia Giro D'Italia 2025 Stage 9: Gubbio – Siena (181km)

[Lequack]

Tomorrow

I need to take up sports betting.

 

[Lequack]

Yeah I totally missed that Ayuso was impacted. I’m not sure he actually went down. Maybe he stepped off and his casette, or someone else’s, caught his calf?

So is this from the Roglic crash or did he have a later crash?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1924215752518733873

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1924215752518733873

 

[Gratemans]

Far from my worst prediction to be honest.

To other riders, this would feel like a crisis. When it's concerning Roglic, I just expect it by now. I'd even wager he himself expects it.
"Ah bit of bad luck, what can you do, eh?"
He didn't seem to badly hurt though. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we'll end up with him holding the Trofeo senza fine in Rome.

(And can I take a moment to express my admiration for the single most beautifully designed trophy in all of sports?)

 

[Red Rick]

To other riders, this would feel like a crisis. When it's concerning Roglic, I just expect it by now. I'd even wager he himself expects it.

I'm at the point where I'm annoyed that it's basically a meme at this point when he's taken out by a different rider and I feel like I'm an old man shouting at the clouds when guys are taking each other out.

 

[Gratemans]

I'm at the point where I'm annoyed that it's basically a meme at this point when he's taken out by a different rider and I feel like I'm an old man shouting at the clouds when guys are taking each other out.

Yeah well, sometimes he takes himself out, sometimes it's others.
What makes me like him though is his stoic reaction each and every time. 90% of the riders would completely flip out and lose their sh**. I like his zen-like approach: Stuff happens. You carry on. No stress, make the best of it. It's a mental fortitude that I think is quite rare among top GC riders, and greatly underappreciated.

 

[hayneplane]

Have to laugh at Geniets and Plankaert. Lot of effort today for nothing since not GC guys

Advertising their talents. Not as if they even had a GC guy to work for worthy of the description here.

 

[nightowl]

Potential UAE civil war and Roglic forced to attack? We might have a fun Giro after all

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Potential UAE civil war and Roglic forced to attack? We might have a fun Giro after all

I think Ciccone, Tiberi , S Yates and Carapaz are all still in the Giro ..and of course Bernal ....at least enough to put the cat among the pigeons

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

What a stage!

I don't even know where to start. So I will just say:

What a stage!

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

I think Ciccone, Tiberi , S Yates and Carapaz are all still in the Giro ..and of course Bernal ....at least enough to put the cat among the pigeons

Never heard that one before, what does it mean exactly? And who's the cat?

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Never heard that one before, what does it mean exactly? And who's the cat?

it means to cause an upset or a disturbance in a group ...usually undesirable to the group

GC Group being the pigeons
Rider who attacks and causes mayhem being the cat ..could be Carapaz or S Yates or Tiberi .....so everyone is marking each other and this rider attacks ...maybe doesn't win the Giro but causes another rider to lose it due to chasing , etc

 

[red_flanders]

Never heard that one before, what does it mean exactly? And who's the cat?

Buy some World Cycling Productions videos and you can hear Phil and Paul saying about every 12 seconds for 30 years...

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Buy some World Cycling Productions videos and you can hear Phil and Paul saying about every 12 seconds for 30 years...

I've watched quite a lot of old stuff (pre Armstong) with Ligget and I can't recall that phrase. Funny thing. Probably never asked myself the question before because it was clear enough from context.

Thx for the explanation @AnotherArmChair.

 

[saunaking]

Let me break it down for y'all
Its a stage race, there is no shame in Wout for wheelsucking Del Toro in this case.
Del Toro still 'won' with a HUGE lead in GC.
Wout would have been borderline regarded to work with him?
Like why?

 

[saunaking]

I always was a big Van Aert fan. And always (though I am Austrian) cheered for Flemish riders. But I definetly did not like the wheelsucking he did today. And I do not understand, that some here consider that as tactically suberbe. It was simply wheelsucking. And unfair. That was not the Wout, I was supporting through all those years. For example against Mathieu.

And I also think, that his best years are behind him. I do not see him winning Flanders and Roubaix anymore. Okay, if neither Mathieu nor Tadej or Mads are there, than maybe...

Did you know that this is a 3 week race?
Its kind of like 20 races together.
So the rider with the lowest overall time wins.
If you want to win the race overall, it is much less important if you win a stage or come second with the same time but up a minute on all your overall competitors.
I think there is a good wiki page that explains this.

The reason he rides with Mathieu is because they are racing for a finish line, not a time after 3 weeks

 

[saunaking]

And Ciccone dive-bombing Carapaz?
Holy poop that was amazing!!! So close to bashing the barrier!!
Ballsy move for 4 seconds!

 

[Hugh Januss]

So is this from the Roglic crash or did he have a later crash?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1924215752518733873

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1924215752518733873

I thought that same thing when I saw the video of the Roglic etal. crash, Ayuso way over on the right side seems to only have to put a foot down.

 

[Keldergoat]

What a stage.

Quite baffled by both UAE's and Lidl Trek's strategy, both didn't really seem to pan out a winning strategy. If UAE truly wants to put minutes into Roglic they would let Yates and McNulty ride their asses off until the last 1,5km but both were fresh enough to end in the top-12 on a steep climb like Sta Catharina, then you've been sandbagging all along.

And Lidl-Trek: what was Vacek's move all about, blowing yourself up to close a 1 minute gap to get dropped right after? If he would play the domestique role for Ciccone it would be end of story for Roglic, Gee and Storer's GC right now.

Kuddos to Ineos for their ballsy strategy, it's a bummer that Arensman got a mechanical cause he was crazy strong next to Rivera, they diserved more than what they got for. Apparently Arensman finished the last 40 km on Ben Turners bike btw.

Anyhow, I loved it.

 

[Red Rick]

What a stage.

Quite baffled by both UAE's and Lidl Trek's strategy, both didn't really seem to pan out a winning strategy. If UAE truly wants to put minutes into Roglic they would let Yates and McNulty ride their asses off until the last 1,5km but both were fresh enough to end in the top-12 on a steep climb like Sta Catharina, then you've been sandbagging all along.

And Lidl-Trek: what was Vacek's move all about, blowing yourself up to close a 1 minute gap to get dropped right after? If he would play the domestique role for Ciccone it would be end of story for Roglic, Gee and Storer's GC right now.

Kuddos to Ineos for their ballsy strategy, it's a bummer that Arensman got a mechanical cause he was crazy strong next to Rivera, they diserved more than what they got for. Apparently Arensman finished the last 40 km on Ben Turners bike btw.

Anyhow, I loved it.

McNulty clearly gave his all, Yates is a protected leader so he didn't have to.

And Vacek was just super selfish but some tell me it was Trek DS's being smart because they have a degree in DS'ing and they have gotten good results so far despite their worst efforts.

 

[Rackham]

McNulty looked like he'd been mauled by a bear at the end of the stage.

I think another problem that people watching the race might not appreciate is just how chaotic that stage was and it's quite probable a lot of what we saw happen did so because of two reasons: legs (or lack thereof for the riders involved) and DS's actually having no clue what the hell was going on or where everyone was.

We still don't know where or when Ayuso crashed, not entirely anyway.

 

[Pippo_San]

This stage is a dream come true.

I'd love to be in the UAE bus to hear Ayuso go crazy against Del Toro.
Man freaky times ahead.
Can't wait.

 

[SafeBet]

McNulty looked like he'd been mauled by a bear at the end of the stage.

I think another problem that people watching the race might not appreciate is just how chaotic that stage was and it's quite probable a lot of what we saw happen did so because of two reasons: legs (or lack thereof for the riders involved) and DS's actually having no clue what the hell was going on or where everyone was.

We still don't know where or when Ayuso crashed, not entirely anyway.

This is so true.
I re-watched the last 60 km on the multiscreen feed and I have yet to understand whether Ayuso injured himself in the Roglic crash or elsewhere.

A few other things that stood out to me: Gee, Roglic, Storer and Pidcock all had mechanicals, accidents, bad luck and all had to pull a lot in the final 50 km. Much more than the GC guys in group Ayuso. Rogla looked very insecure at first after the crash but later regained his confidence. Gee and Storer fared better than you'd guess by only looking at the results.
Gee, Storer and Pidcock had little to no support from their teams, which is understandable for PT teams. Red Bull surely had to do more but they kinda saved their Giro by having Denz pull like a madman to bring Pellizzari back to Roglic. Pellizzari was outstanding.

Yates and McNulty worked a lot more than I thought in the final 20 km before Siena. I gotta say Yates looked gassed in San Martino in Grania so I'm not sure he had more to give. McNulty had to come back from far back and was in pain.

I still can't understand when and how Vacek attacked from group Ayuso but it had to be somewhere during the San Martino in Grania sector. I feel like the team owed it to him after his terrific work in the first week but it really made no sense. He wasted so much energy in between San Martino and Monteaperti, with those legs he could have probably brought the group back on his own, or at least try an attack together with Ciccone.

 

[Keldergoat]

McNulty clearly gave his all, Yates is a protected leader so he didn't have to.

And Vacek was just super selfish but some tell me it was Trek DS's being smart because they have a degree in DS'ing and they have gotten good results so far despite their worst efforts.

I doubt that, McNulty ends the stage just behind all the GC competitors. If you are going full gass for 40 km as a Domestique you don't lose only 20 seconds on a steep beast of a climb like that.

All is setting up for a typical UAE popcorn Giro where apparently still 4 guys think that they can win the Giro.

 

[Red Rick]

I doubt that, McNulty ends the stage just behind all the GC competitors. If you are going full gass you don't lose only 20 seconds on a steep beast of a climb like that.

All is setting up for a typical UAE popcorn Giro where apparently still 4 guys think that they can win the Giro.

It's a really short climb though, it's not really Mur de Huy where you can lose a minute fairly easily. In addition, the guys sprinting away weren't as fresh as typically happens in Fleche either.

 

[Red Rick]

I still can't understand when and how Vacek attacked from group Ayuso but it had to be somewhere during the San Martino in Grania sector. I feel like the team owed it to him after his terrific work in the first week but it really made no sense. He wasted so much energy in between San Martino and Monteaperti, with those legs he could have probably brought the group back on his own, or at least try an attack together with Ciccone.

I think Vacek getting freedom is just something that happened cause the mood in the Trek team is really good, everyone is talking about how strong Vacek was on stage 5, how they wanted to keep pink within the team, and then suddenly nobody is telling Vacek to get back in line and do his job. I honestly think Ciccone has reason to be pissed about this even if he isn't.