Lennard Kämna's dream of the pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia has been shattered, but Emanuel Buchmann has shown morale.
The former Tour de France fourth-placed rider had already been left behind at one point during the difficult 191-kilometre climb up to the Blockhaus on the ninth stage, but fought his way back and kept the loss within limits, finishing 16 seconds behind his victorious Bora-hansgrohe team-mate Jai Hindley. With his victory ahead of Frenchman Romain Bardet and former Giro champion Richard Carapaz, the Australian gave the Bora team its second stage win at the Tour of Italy.
The previous overall runner-up Kämna, who had triumphed on Mount Etna, had to abandon on the 13.6 kilometre final climb with an average gradient of 8.4 per cent and lost over four minutes. Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez defended the pink jersey with his last ounce of strength.
Hindley and Buchmann captains
Buchmann made a leap to ninth place overall with his seventh place. The gap to Lopez is 1:09 minutes. Meanwhile, a first preliminary decision has been made regarding the captaincy at Bora. After the Dutchman Wilco Kelderman lost a lot of time, everything is now focussed on Hindley and Buchmann.
In any case, the Allgäuer is counting on the last week after not starting the Giro at 100 per cent. Last year, Buchmann was already within striking distance of the top before dropping out in sixth place after a crash. "That was an incredible stage. Everything was there. Wilco was out early, we had three guys in the leading group, Lenni was fighting for the pink jersey and in the end we won the stage," said sporting director Jens Zemke.
Kämna had desperately tried to keep up on the final climb - without success. Kämna had already launched an attack on the pink jersey on Saturday when breakaway king Thomas De Gendt (Belgium) won the stage. But Lopez was alert and right on the German's wheel eight kilometres before the finish.
The Giro will have its second rest day on Monday before the tenth stage over 196 kilometres from Pescara to Jesi over undulating terrain.
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