Matt White's Giro d'Italia Stage 9 Preview:
Sunday, May 19, 2019
34.8km Riccione - San Marino (ITT)
This is actually a time trial with something in there for everyone. There’s flattish terrain and then around 14km of climbing towards the finish which comes in the form of multiple ramps. My initial thoughts were that riders would change bikes and move to a road bike for the second half but the more analysis we do the more I don’t think that will be the case. Some riders might disagree but there are some downhill sections in between the climbs so you’ll lose 20 seconds on the change before hitting 50kph again on the short downhill sections. You don’t want to be on a road bike for those sections. Overall this first part of the race is one of the easiest openings to the Giro in recent memory but I know what’s coming from the time trial all the way to the finish, with all those mountain stages. It’s a race of two halves and the second part of the race is just relentless.
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