Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Wout Poels moved to the front in the final kilometers of 172km Giro d'Italia Stage 9 on Sunday, as Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R - La Mondiale) attacked out of the Maglia Rosa group with a little less than 5km to go.
Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar) were well on their way to deciding the stage winner after attacking out of the original breakaway. However, Pozzovivo, who was 1'50" down in the GC going into the stage, decided to test the GC contenders by accelerating on the ascent to the finish in Sestola.
Poels did everything he could on the front for OPQS to minimize the gap in support of Rigoberto Uran, the leader of the team who was 2nd in the GC behind leader Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team).
Weening went on to win the stage, with Malacarne 2nd and Pozzovivo 3rd. The Uran group crossed less than 30" back from Pozzovivo. There were no changes to the position of Uran, or Evans in the Maglia Rosa. Uran finished 5th in the stage.
OPQS looks next to a rest day on Monday. Stage 10 is a 173 kilometer flat stage on Tuesday.
“As I said yesterday, you never know how a race can be even if it looks easier on paper,” Uran said “Even today was a difficult stage. The group took a good tempo until the last climb. The steepest part of the climb was between eight and four kilometers from the finish. Pozzovivo attacked on that part. I didn't follow him and I sat in the bunch to see if somebody would react to his attack. Nobody followed him, so at that point I tried to accelerate a bit to see the reaction of the other GC guys. Nothing really happened, so I asked Poels to set the tempo and try to contain the gap from Pozzovivo. The team was again great today. I can really count on the guys and I'm happy about it.”
“Today in a certain way the first part of the Giro is closed,” Uran continued. “I think that so far we rode a good Giro. We are in good GC position. We didn't try to do too much, or too little either. We stayed consistent. We survived a few nasty crashes and the most important thing, we have a great atmosphere in the team. The high mountains are still far away, but it was very important in this first part of the Giro to not lose time and not be surprised. I think we accomplished our mission so far. We are looking forward to the next stages.”
