As at the Blockhaus, the Austrian was the only one who was able to keep up with Vingegaard to some extent. The top favourite for overall victory was only able to shake off his last rival 700 metres before the finish. Meanwhile, it was Gall who made the decisive attack 2.4 kilometres before the finish. When the 28-year-old went on the offensive, the remaining group of favourites flew apart completely.

With his second stage win of the current stage race, Vingegaard, who is himself in the mountain jersey, has further reduced his gap to the man in the maglia rosa. He is now separated from Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain - Victorious) by 2:24 minutes. But the Portuguese rider also put in another strong performance, finishing in fifth place 41 seconds behind the winner.

This put him ahead of the Red Bull one-two of Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari. The Australian was 50 seconds behind, Pellizzari even 1:28 minutes behind. However, the young Italian was rumoured to be struggling with gastrointestinal problems, which gave his performance a different flavour. In the overall standings, both lost ground to the GC competition, with Hindley in fifth and Pellizzari ninth.

Vingegaard celebrates his 50th professional victory

Vingegaard's second stage win at the Giro was also the 50th of his professional career. "This is undoubtedly a milestone," he said at the press conference after the race. It's a lot for me and something I'm really happy about. We actually wanted to ride more defensively as we were already a man down and had used up a lot of energy at the Blockhaus, but Decathlon set the pace throughout the day. Then the high pace on the climb was better for me, and when the breakaway group was within reach, I was happy to attack and take the win." The fact that his entire team didn't have to work was also reflected in the classification. His helpers Davide Piganzoli and Sepp Kuss finished in third and eighth place respectively, performing better than some of the GC riders.

The second rest day of the tour now awaits the riders. Immediately afterwards, the ambitious 42-kilometre time trial continues on stage 10.

Giro d'Italia 2026 - Results of the 9th stage

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How the 9th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2026 went

A trio with Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar Team) and Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana Team) set off early to determine the 184 kilometre long day starting in Cervia. But as on the previous stage, the peloton didn't really let the group get away. Only a second attack was successful. Eight men, again with Ballerini and Milesi, were then able to ride away and gain up to three minutes. Among them were climbers such as Milesi's team-mate Einer Rubio and Mattia Bais (Team Polti VisitMalta). A maximum of three minutes was possible for the escapees.

The race situation changed 74 kilometres before the finish when Giulio Ciccone (Lidl - Trek), Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana Team) and Toon Aerts (Lotto - Intermarché) broke away from the peloton on the first wave of the day. Shortly before the intermediate sprint in Marzabotto, they docked at the front, but only had a lead of 70 seconds.

Ciccone still intercepted

On the approach to the final climb, however, the gap between the leaders and the peloton grew again to more than two minutes. Over the first climb of the 3rd category 17 kilometres before the finish, the group split up, with the three newcomers and the Movistar duo Milesi and Rubio staying with them. Going into the final climb, Ciccone and Rubio did their thing, and with a little less than eight kilometres to go, the Italian also left Rubio behind, as the group of favourites had reduced their gap to one minute.

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) soon had to leave the group. When Gall attacked with 2.4 kilometres to go after his team had been in the lead for a long time, the entire group split up. Only Vingegaard was able to follow the Austrian. 500 metres later, they were already with Ciccone, who was subsequently dropped to eleventh place.

In the last 700 metres, Gall lost the rear wheel of Vingegaard, who then rode solo towards his second stage win at the Giro. Behind him and the Austrian, his team-mate Piganzoli put in a strong final sprint to secure third place and take the bonus seconds from Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS).