Giro d'Italia stage 9 LIVE: Big summit finish on the menu at Corno alle Scale, with GC action almost certain
The riders head to the ski resort of Corno alle Scale for the Giro's second summit finish
Marcellusi goes again with a teammate on his wheel taking a few others with them but, again, the peloton comes back as Milan and his Magnier shadow come out of the bunch again.
The peloton splitting into multiple groups out front but Morgado and co sit up as it comes together again. Maltese rider Andrea Mifsud (Polti-Visit Malta) goes clear with Larry Warbasse (Tudor) trying to follow. Mifsud gets a gap but is quickly closed again.
A new attack from Morgado. He has a long line of riders following him but a group of 8 gets a good gap. That move doesn't last long, though. Groupama-FDJ United are keen to join in which brings the peloton back to them.
Interesting that Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) has made it into this chase group as he is in the fight with Sevilla for the Fuga prize for most kilometres out front of the race. He also leads the intermediate sprint and Red Bull kilometre competitions. However, that is all brought back with Ballerini and Milesi out front by 33".
Planckaert has sat up from the lead group and joins the chasers to make a group of 10 behind the two leaders.
Another new move comes from the peloton, though. Yesterday's runner up, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) goes clear but has a string of riders following.
Lidl-Trek miss the move with Ciccone and can't bridge the gap as this new counter move appears to be going clear.
More moves go clear as that counter was caught. Milan joins with Magnier latched onto his wheel again. Milan's purple shadow.
More riders continue to try and bridge to this new move as Crescioli does make the bridge.
More moves go clear with Unibet-Rose-Rockets, Alpecin-Premier Tech, Uno-X Mobility and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre going clear with Lidl-Trek trying to chase but as Walscheid swings off to encourage Ciccone to kick across, the move pulls away further.
Pinarello-Q36.5, EF Edcuation-EasyPost, Uno-X Mobility and Movistar all keen to be up there as well as Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre and Polti-Visit Malta.
So many riders have tried to bridge to the trio out front but now the gap goes beyond 40" as the peloton sits up again.
And it is back together with just Ballerini, Milesi and Planckaert still 28" clear as Picnic-PostNL and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre start the game again.
Walscheid continues the pressure with Ciccone locked onto his wheel. Behind, Unibet-Rose-Rockets try to go clear as Antonio Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) starts to get involved for the first time since Bulgaria.
Walscheid tries to take Ciccone clear but as the race splits, Visma-Lease a Bike send Tim Rex across with James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost). And, of course, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are all over that and the game gets another reset.
Filippo Turconi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) and Ludovico Crescioli (Polti-Visit Malta) try to move but then Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) tries to lead out Giulio Ciccone. That sees points jersey Paul Magnier and teammate Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep) coaxed out of the bunch.
Ecuadorian and Colombian champions of Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) sitting at the back as the peloton have really eased on the pace with the leading trio now taking their gap to 24".
The counter moves continue to stall with Milesi, Planckaert, and Ballerini still hodling 14" on the peloton.
Uno-X Mobility starts chasing but Andrea Raccagni (Soudal-Quickstep) launches to try and force a new break.
The rider who finished last yesterday, Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Premier Tech) joins Ballerini alongside Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar). They have 11" gap on the bunch who are looking to have stalled in their pacing for now.
Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) launches for the second time. They will be very keen to get Christian Scaroni into the days break.
Forming a breakaway on a major summit finish day in a Grand Tour is really like a game of chess. The riders close back together again as Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) hit the front.
Max Walscheid is leading out his Lidl-Trek teammate Giulio Ciccone in an attack. Also, Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche) is in that group. Interesting early tactics with Decathlon-CMA CGM getting Oliver Naesen up the road as well.
It is a beautiful roll out for the riders in a very sunny Emilia Romagna. However, the forecast for the final climb says we may have temperatures at around 4 degrees Celsius!
Jerseys and other Giro competitions after stage 8:
Pink - Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious)
Purple - Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep)
Blue - Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
White - Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious)*
Int sprint - Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre)
Fuga - Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-Visit Malta)
Red Bull KM - Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre)
Team - Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
The riders have started the neutral zone and are roughly 10 minutes away from racing.
We are expecting a chaotic start with multiple riders battling to get into the break of the day. Visma-Lease a Bike will have to be on high alert so riders like Enric Mas (Movistar), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche), Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost), Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) and others don't get in the break of the day. And, if they do, manage the gap sufficiently to let them go all the way but to also not gain massively on their Danish leader as well as dropping pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) along the way,
The riders will start the neutralised section in about 5 minutes.
The riders are due to start racing after the neutral zone at 12:50 local time.
It is very likely that we will see a breakaway succeed today for one simple reason. Jonas Vingegaard will not want to ride the ITT on Tuesday in the blue KOM skinsuit. He leads the classification by one point over Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-Visit Malta) thanks to his win on Blockhaus.
Once you've read the preview and looked at the profile, don't forget to vote above on who you think is going to win the stage!
The Corno alle Scale is 10.8km long, but with the Quesciola climb coming right before, there's actually a good 21km of climbing to finish the stage.
Here's what is on the cards today:
We'll be here all day with all the updates and actions from what is set to be an exciting day of racing, the last one before the first (proper) rest day.
Good morning and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia!
