Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) strengthened his grip on the pink jersey with victory on the mythical Gran Sasso d’Italia as Chris Froome cracked with two kilometres remaining.
Yates was part of a five-man group that escaped in the final kilometers of the summit finish and the Mitchelton-Scott rider attacked right at the end to edge out Thibaut Pinot.
Yates’ teammate Esteban Chaves was third to leapfrog defending champion Tom Dumoulin in the overall standings and move into second, 32 seconds off the pace.
Chris Froome had been ninth, 1 minute and 10 seconds behind Yates. But he struggled at the end of the 225K route from Pesco Sannita up to Gran Sasso d’Italia and finished well down.
“That was for the boys, the big guys who ride on the front all day,” Yates said after the stage. “They’ve had a couple of tough days, always riding on the front for some very long stages, so that’s for those guys.
“From the beginning of the stage we always looked to think maybe if we keep the breakaway close enough there might be a possibility for the stage. Once Astana showed interest, I thought it was possible then, but you never know really deep in the final.”
Giro d’Italia 2018 – stage 9 results (Pesco Sannita – Gran Sasso d’Italia):
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 5:54:13 |
| 2 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 3 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 4 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +04” |
| 5 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | ,, |
| 6 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +10” |
| 7 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +12” |
| 8 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 9 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | ,, |
| 10 | Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF) | +24” |
| 11 | Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) | +26” |
| 12 | Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) | +36” |
| 13 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +38” |
| 14 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +52” |
| 15 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | ,, |
| 16 | Louis Meintjes (Dimension Data) | +01’00” |
| 17 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +01’02” |
| 18 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 19 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 20 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
General classification after stage 9:
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 37:37:15 |
| 2 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | +32” |
| 3 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +38” |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +45” |
| 5 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +57” |
| 6 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +01’20” |
| 7 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’33” |
| 8 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | +02’05” |
| 9 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | ,, |
| 10 | Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) | +02’25” |
| 11 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +02’27” |
| 12 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +02’34” |
| 13 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | ,, |
| 14 | Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) | +02’36” |
| 15 | Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 16 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | +02’46” |
| 17 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +02’54” |
| 18 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | +03’14” |
| 19 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | +03’37” |
| 20 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | +04’12” |
