Giroud 2022: Jay Hindley wins Lockhouse after wear, Juan Pedro Lopez keeps pink

Jai Hindley won the ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia with his arrival at Blockhaus. The Australian from Bora Hansgrohe was the best of the favourite after the 191km mountain stage after suffering wear and tear on the steep final climb. He beat Roman Bardet and Richard Carabaz in a sprint by six. Simon Yates’ best favorite was released early and lost a lot of time. The pink jersey Juan Pedro Lopez was also unable to compete with the best, but he will keep his jersey.

From the start in Isernia he went straight up through the Apennines. On Vallico Del Macerone (3.1 kilometers at 5.7%) it rained attacks, which included mountain jersey wearers Quinn Bowman, Matthew van der Poel and Giggs Limeries. However, they did not escape. Diego Rosa of EOLO-Kometa managed to pull back and capture most of the mountain points in Riomero Sannitico (9 km at 6.7%).

early flight
Behind Rosa, two groups of pursuit merged appeared on the ascent to Roccaraso (7.3 km by 6.1%). This resulted in a leadership group of nine men. Besides the Italians, there were also Joe Dombrowski (Astana, Kazakhstan), Natnael Tesvazion, Eduardo Sepulveda (Drone Huber-Androni Giocatoli), Filippo Zanna (Bardiani-CSF-Faisani), Felix Gall, Nance Peters (AG2R Citronesed), Education EasyPost) and James Knox (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl).

Leading group battle at the beginning of the stage – Photo: Kor Vos

In the opening stage there was another crash by Belo Bilbao, but the Basques managed to get back into the favourites with some scratches. In the peloton, Trek-Segafredo of Juan Pedro Lopez’s pink jersey was dominant. The Runaways advanced by about five minutes, which brought leader Felix Gall close to the pink jersey. The Austrian was the best rider ahead with a time of 6.48 minutes.

Ineos Grenadiers chase the leading group
After the first three climbs, there was a quiet period in the race, because all eyes were on the very difficult final climbing the Blockhaus twice. First is Passo Lanciano (10.5 km at 7.4%), followed by unclassified San Valentino at Abruzzo Citeriore (6.2 km at 4.9%) and the last ascent to Blockhaus (13.7 km at 8.5%). Before Lanciano, it was INEOS Grenadiers who put the man ahead. Jonathan Castrovigo single-handedly cut off the frontrunners’ lead.

Even before the foot of Basso Lanciano, it became clear that the cooperation in the leading group was not good. Knowing that the herd was approaching, Peters and Tesfatsion turned away. Sepúlveda and Rosa crossed in the first climbing class, after which Rosa and Tesvasion broke up together.

Peloton on its way to the Blockhaus – Photo: Cor Vos

They made a rift with the rest of the fugitives, after which Rosa appeared first on Passo Lanciano. He has practically surpassed Quinn Bowman in mountain classification. Sepulveda, Peters and Dombrowski followed in 50 seconds and a peloton in three minutes. In the event of a quick descent, there was a severe collision by Tesfatsion, who miscalculated the angle and crashed hard into the berm.

Yeats, Kildareman and it would be quitting favorites
In the peloton there was misfortune for Wilco Kielderman before the San Valentino in the Abruzzo Sitterior. He switched bikes and had to come back on his own, but it took a lot of effort from him. In the foreground it was all on San Valentino for Rosa, who was succeeded by Dombrovsky. Behind him were the United Arab Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers in the favorites group. Those American teams snatched right before Blockhaus, leading to a battle of candidates for the final promotion.

Tom Dumoulin and Tobias Voss left early and put a good rating out of their minds, while Giulio Ciccone was having a day off in his home area. The Italian player had to retire early and the match was also over for Simon Yates. Just under 12 kilometers before the finish, the British candidate, who had knee problems, could not keep up with the pace. Kielderman was also missing at the front and Quinn Bowman was released 10 km away.

It all happened thanks to the work of INEOS Grenadiers. It also went too fast for Sam Omen, and then it seemed like Joao Almeida too had a problem. On the sides of the Blockhaus building, he was pulled to the side and due to the strange movement of the pink jersey, Juan Pedro Lopez had to get off the bike. As a result, the Spaniard lost his rhythm for some time and lost contact.

Juan Pedro Lopez fights for his pink shirt – Photo: Cor Vos

Carabaz, Landa and Bardet will not walk away
He saw Richie Porte leading the way, behind Richard Carapaz, Roman Bardet, Mikel Landa, Alejandro Valverde, Domenico Pozovovo, Vincenzo Nibali, Guy Hindley, Thiemen Ariensmann, Emmanuel Buchmann and Almeida the industrious. Five kilometers before the finish, the difference with Lopez’s group was already 30 seconds and with Yates’ group two minutes, and those differences continued to increase.

4.5 kilometers from the end, Carabaz made a split attack, which could only be followed by Bardet and Landa. Hindley, Almeida, Pozzovivo, Nibali and Valverde kept the difference small, but that group also exploded due to the high pace. More than two kilometers before the finish, Almeida, Bozovovo and Hindley are back in the leading trio. This made her a little quiet.

Acceleration by Bardet ensured the restoration of the previous leading group, as Landa and Carapaz followed suit. The Frenchman wanted to keep up with the pace, but Almeida, Hindley and Bozofevo didn’t stop either. They got in, so we got six races to win the stage. Hindley led the race and held up well against Bardet and Carapaz.

Thymen Arensman was the best Dutchman in today’s result in tenth place, 58 seconds behind Hindley. Sam Oomen was 18th after over four minutes. For Kielderman, the grapes were sour. He, like Simon Yates, lost more than ten minutes over the other candidates.

Photo: La Presse

The pink remains of Juan Pedro Lopez
Juan Pedro Lopez was less than two minutes ahead of the front group candidates and managed to hold his pink jersey with a sprint in the last hundreds of metres. He now has a 12sec lead over Almeida and 14sec over Romain Bardet. The top eight places are located within one minute of each other. With these small differences, we’ll be entering our second rest day in this Giro on Monday.