After three punishing days in a row on the gravel stage, an individual time trial and the Prati di Tivo summit finish, the peloton finally gets some relief with a mainly flat stage from Avezzano to Naples on stage 9 before the first rest day.
The gentle run-out in the Abruzzo region is interrupted by a couple of small unclassified climbs which could allow for a breakaway to form before it settles into a flat midsection with two sprints - the intermediate in Mondragone and Intergiro in Lago Patria.
A tiny climb, the Monte di Procida starts the lumpier finale after 178.3km. The second sprint in Bacoli is just at the bottom of the descent. From there it's 32.6km to go with a couple of unclassified climbs favouring the stronger sprinters.
However, it isn't going to be an easy run despite its simple look on paper as if it is down to the peloton, the sprint teams with leaders more capable over the hilly terrain: Alpecin Deceuninck with Kaden Groves, Lidl-Trek with Jonathan Milan and Visma-Lease a Bike with Olav Kooij, may look to up the pace on the punchy few uncategorised hills to sting the legs of the purer fast men such as Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep).
This potential for a frantic run could see more tension leading into the climbs as GC teams try to stay safe and avoid any potential mishaps, so expect a flying peloton in the final 50 kilometres. Something even Tadej Pogačar warned of in his post-stage 8 victory interview.
“I hope it's a relaxing day tomorrow but I think the last 50km is quite tricky and can be dangerous so there’s gonna still be some nerves and we need to be focussed until the end of tomorrow," he said. "Then I think it is a rest day so I cannot wait."
Stage 9 Sprints
- Intermediate sprint, km. 132.2
- Intergiro bonus sprint, km. 158.5
- Time bonus sprint, km. 181.4
Stage 9 mountains
- Monte di Procida (cat. 4), km. 178.3
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