Giro d'Italia Stage 9 Live - Pink jersey dropped on Tuscan gravel

Tarling is done and dropped from the main GC peloton. 

Tarling and Ben Turner working hard with Bernal and Thymen Arensman lead for Ineos Grenadiers alongside Bahrain Victorious' Pello Bilbao and Antonio Tiberi. 

Max Poole confirmed to be just around 10" off the back of the main GC group alongside Storer now after his crash. 

Pedersen is done and dropped as Tarling now takes it up for Ineos Grenadiers with Bernal in second wheel. 

Crash!

Michael Storer (Tudor)
Florian Stork (Tudor)

Storer's teammate went down in front of him just as they started the Serravalle sector. An absolute disaster as he did so well to get onto the group. 

Onto sector two go Groves and Hermans, the Serravalle. They have 41" on the peloton that are still led by Pedersen. 

It looks like Picnic-PostNL's 7th place man in GC, Max Poole, is out of the back along with teammate Romain Bardet. 

Mads Pedersen is still working on the front of the peloton with three of his teammates on his wheel including Mathias Vacek and Giulio Ciccone. 

Second overall, Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) is in the Diego Ulissi group as their teammates get together and try to work to limit the losses. 

That is the first gravel sector done. Just 4km of break before the next sector, Serravalle. 

Caught by peloton

Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)
Luke Lamperti (Soudal-QuickStep)

60km to go

Groves and Hermans have 42" on the Pedersen led peloton with Ulissi 1'52" down on the leaders. 

Pink jersey dropped

Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana) has been distanced and is over a minute down on the peloton. 

Storer, Tiberi, Gee, both of the Yates brothers, Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) all get back on to the lad group with the peloton in bits on the road. This is so difficult to see who is where, but no major problems so far. 

Out front, Groves has come back and is setting a very hard tempo for Hermans as everyone else have been dropped. It is the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo out front as Milan Fretin is caught by the peloton. 

Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) all struggling to stay with the front of the peloton led by Pedersen. 

Big split in the peloton as Michael Storer (Tudor) is struggling to hold on. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) looking very smooth in the front of the peloton with Primož Roglič and Juan Ayuso a bit further back. 

At the front of the race, Fretin, De Bondt and Groves have been dropped from the break with Van der Hoorn, Lamperti and Hermans leading. 

There is a huge amount of dust, The riders can hardly see a metre in front of them. This makes things even harder. 

Puncture

Milan Fretin (Cofidis)

The Belgian has not had a fun day in the breakaway today. The break only have 53" on the peloton, now. 

The pink jersey of Diego Ulissi is a long way down the peloton. On the front of the peloton is Mads Pdersen and Josh Tarling. 

Behind, Ineos Grenadiers, Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek battle for control with Josh Tarling, Edoardo Affini and Daan Hoole going wheel to wheel. But, Gianni Moscon and Primož Roglič come from nowhere for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe to lead onto the gravel alongside Wout Van Aert (Vima-Lease a Bike). 

The breakaway ride onto the dry gravel and the dust clouds blow up immediately. Onto the Pieve a Salti, 8km with a max kicker of 11%. 

70km to go

The peloton are just 2km from the first gravel sector, the Pieve a Salti. Lidl-Trek, Q36.5, Visma-Lease a Bike, Bahrain Victorious, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Picnic-PostNL and Ineos Grenadiers all lead the way. 

80km to go

The break have 1'46" gap on the peloton with 10km to the first gravel section. 

A small group of 12 riders losing touch with the peloton including Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's Giovanni Aleotti and 30th overall Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty), which is a surprise. 

The top two in the GC, the XDS-Astana teammates of Diego Ulissi and Lorenzo Fortunato, riding together the peloton and hoping to take their GC positions into the rest day tomorrow. 

Q36.5 and XDS-Astana are joined on the front of the peloton by UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Ineos Grenadiers, Jayco-AlUla and Bahrain Victorious. 

Intermediate sprint (Sinalunga)

1. Dries De Bondt (BEL) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 12pts
2. Quinten Hermans (BEL) Alpecin-Deceuninck 8pts
3. Kaden Groves (AUS) Alpecin-Deceuninck 5pts
4. Milan Fretin (BEL) Cofidis 3pts
5. Taco van der Hoorn (NED) Intermarche-Wanty 1pt

Into the final 90km of today.

This has been the view on the front of the peloton for the majority of the day with Xabier Mikel Azparren leading the way for Q36.5 and his team leader, Tom Pidcock. 

Just 10km to the second intermediate sprint of the day which is taking place in Sinalunga. 

The sun is out on the riders at the moment but there is a very dark cloud up ahead and a haze of rain. Will the gravel be wet for the riders?

100km to go

The peloton are continuing to keep the break very close with the gap sat at 1'30" still. 

Interestingly, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was right at the back of the peloton and was working hard to hold on. Not sure if there was an issue or if he was just dropping back to talk tactics with his DS.  

The race enters Tuscany with the peloton now just 1'34" behind the breakaway. 

Bike change

Milan Fretin (Cofidis)

After his crash he required a new bike. 

Fretin makes it back into the break again. 

Crash

Milan Fretin (Cofidis)

The Belgian sprinter went into a corner way to tight and was leaning the bike in too much making him slide out. He was back on his feet before he stopped sliding and is back riding. 

KoM (La Cima)

1. Quinten Hermans (BEL) Alpecin-Deceuninck 9pts
2. Taco van der Hoorn (NED) Intermarche-Wanty 4pts
3. Dries De Bondt (BEL) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 2pts
4. Milan Fretin (BEL) Cofidis 1pt

Dropped by peloton

Jenson Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

This will be a very long day for the young Australian rider if he is losing touch this early on the climb when the tempo isn't extremely high. 

130km to go

On the climb of La Cima now. The break are half way up the climb with the peloton behind led by Q36.5 and UAE Team Emirates-XRG in two trains. 

Intermediate sprint (Mercatale)

1. Dries De Bondt (BEL) Alpecin-Deceuninck 12pts
2. Taco van der Hoorn (NED) Intermarche-Wanty 8pts
3. Milan Fretin (BEL) Cofidis 5pts
4. Luke Lamperti (USA) Soudal-QuickStep 3pts
5. Quinten Hermans (BEL) Alpecin-Deceuninck 1pt

The first intermediate sprint of the day is coming in 4km at Mercatale, immediately followed by the category 3 La Cima climb. 

Bike change

Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)

A jammed chain for the former Belgian champion. 

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have joined Q36.5 and XDS-Astana on the front of the peloton as they are now giving the break a bit more time again. 

The break are riding hard but the gap continues to drop as it dips under a minute and a half. 

150km to go

Q36.5 and XDS-Astana are riding really quite hard after the first 30km. The average speed is at 51.4kph so far, which is extremely fast. 

Today's weather is a mix of sun and cloud with a pleasant temperature of 18°c as the riders role through Umbria and head to Tuscany. 

The gap has dropped below two minutes between the break and the peloton. They are keeping these six riders on a very tight leash. 

160km to go

Van der Hoorn and Lamperti join Groves, Hermans, De Bondt and Fretin with the gap dropping to 2'35". They immediately get organised to try and drag the gap back up again. 

The leaders now almost have three minutes with Van der Hoorn and Lamperti closing in again. It looks like the leaders are slowing to allow the duo in to make it a group of six. 

Van der Hoorn and Lamperti are struggling to close on Groves, Hermans, De Bondt and Fretin as the gap has gone out to 53". 

Now XDS-Astana and Q36.5 now start setting a tempo in the peloton. The break are not going to be given much gap at all as the peloton would like to go for the win today. 

170km to go

The break has gone with six riders clear split into a group of four and two. Over two minutes between the front and the peloton. 

The gap is going out rapidly for the leaders and they now have over a minute and a half on the bunch with the two chasers just half a minute back on the leading four. 

XDS-Astana, Q36.5, Bahrain Victorious and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are blocking the road and are not allowing any more attacks! This looks like we will be getting a six man break with VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane and Polti-VisitMalta missing out on the move. 

More moves come behind with Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) trying yet again. He is trying to join Van der Hoorn and Luke Lamperti (Soudal-QuickStep). 

Those two are just in front of the peloton as they try to bridge to the four leaders. Van Aert's move has been marked out. 

Behind, Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty) tries a move to bridge but he is heavily marked. 

Four riders get a gap with Groves, his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Quinten Hermans as well as Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Milan Fretin (Cofidis). 

Immediately the attacks come with Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) being the first to launch. 

181km to go

The flag it waved and the race is on as the riders head to the gravel of Tuscany. However, the day starts next door in Umbria.

XDS-Astana are in such a good place going into the final day of the first week. 

It is an entirely pink day for Diego Ulissi today. 

Neutral start

The riders have rolled out on the very short neutralised zone. 

One rider will not appear today:

Koen Bouwman (Jayco-AlUla)

The Dutch rider, who was in the breakaway with his teammate Luke Plapp who went on to win yesterday's stage, fell sick overnight and will not start today. 

The riders have five gravel sectors to cover all coming in the second half of the stage. They are Pieve a Salti, Serravalle, San Martino in Grania (with cat 4 climb), Monteaperti and Colle Pinzuto (with Red Bull KM). Not to mention the cobbled kicker up to Siena. 

The day starts with a dream moment for XDS-Astana. They hold the pink jersey with Diego Ulissi in his home region of Tuscany after his heroics yesterday. As well as that, they have 2nd over and the blue mountains jersey with Lorenzo Fortunato. 

Ulissi only has 17" on Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and then 20" and 26" on the UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo of Juan Ayuso and Isaac Del Toro. 

Fortunato has just 5" on Roglič then 8" and 14" on the UAE duo, so things definitely have space to change. The top 13 in GC are separated by a minute with the top 30 all inside four minutes. 

The neutralised start of today's stage is at 13:00 local time with the official start coming just six minutes later. 

The riders have been signing on and getting ready for the start in Gubbio before heading to Siena and it's white gravel roads. 

From a tech perspective, we'll be interested to see what width of tyres riders go for.

In case you missed it, as part of Cyclingnews' Labs testing series, we examined what the fastest tyre width would be in real world riding.

Our results suggested that 40mm was, in fact, the fastest for almost all riding conditions, and certainly likely tobe quickest on the gravel roads of the Strade Bianche.

UCI regulations make a 40mm tyre a little too large for road race use right now, but we'll keep an eye on how wide the pros go today.

Read the full, exceptionally in-depth test - Lab tested: 40mm road tyres are faster for nearly everyone, and here's why

Wout van Aert, on the other hand, seems eager to correct his failed breakaway on stage 8.

The former Strade Bianche claimed "I have a free pass to jump into a breakaway" ahead of the stage.

Read the full story - Wout van Aert eyes next breakaway chance on gravel stage at Giro d'Italia, after failed 'attempts against my better judgment' on Saturday

Pidcock's team have downplayed his prospects for the day following his performance in the mountains.

'Before the Giro d'Italia, I would give him five stars' said coach Kurt Bogaerts.

Read the full piece - Tom Pidcock's team less bullish for gravel stage victory after Briton's poor mountain performance

Today is without doubt a day for the Giro's puncheurs.

All eyes will be on riders like Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike).

We have a supremely exciting stage ahead of us. The Giro d'Italia has returned to the white chalk gravel tracks made famous by Strade Bianche.

Read our full stage 9 preview for a little more information on the key sectors that await the riders.

Buongiorno and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 9 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia!