As a result, Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike) won his first race of the year and the fiftieth of his career, the 21-year-old Mexican Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) is the new race leader, and the GC hopes of pre-race favourite Primož Roglič (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) appear to have literally bitten the dust.
Crash + flat tyre = Giro defeat?
When the Giro resumes on Tuesday, with an ITT, del Toro will wear the race leader’s maglia rosa with a lead of 1:13 over teammate Juan Ayuso, with the hard-luck Roglič sitting down in tenth at 2:25 (!) and looking at a big mountain to climb. His luck and his ever-present smile were turned upside down on the second gravel section of the stage when, with about 51 km left to ride on the 181 km course from Gubbio to Siena, Lucas Hamilton of INEOS Grenadiers crashed on a turn and took several riders down with him, including Roglič.
The Slovenian fell, suffering scrapes and cuts, but his bike was tangled up with that of another, and by the time he got back on the saddle, he was almost a minute behind the small lead group, which included van Aert and del Toro. To make matters worse, he then suffered a puncture and had to wait for a team car, which cost him another minute and put him well behind his main rival for the victory, Ayuso, who had also been impeded by the crash. The Spaniard finished the stage 1:07 behind van Aert but 1:15 ahead of Roglič, and now leads him by 1:12 in the GC standings.
Del Toro races into Giro lead, van Aert celebrates
That crash left six riders in front of the peloton, including del Toro, van Aert and Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers). The group was reduced to three and then grew to four when Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) appeared out of nowhere to join the leaders. But on the final gravel sector, with about 18 km left to ride, del Toro hit the pedals hard on a tough climb, and only van Aert could follow.
The two then raced together to the finish line, at Siena’s iconic Piazza del Campo, with the young Mexican doing most of the work. When they crested the final 900 m climb (maximum ramp of 16%), the Dutchman surged into the lead and removed the weight of the world’s expectations from his shoulders.
“It’s easy to say this victory means a lot to me, I almost cannot explain it,” said van Aert, who had been ill before the start of the Giro and had made uncharacteristic blunders earlier in the race. “This is where my road career started back in 2018, and to win this stage after a long period without delivering, finally again, it feels so good. Siena is a special place to me, and I’m an emotional person. Places like this motivate me, they inspire me, and I just feel like it was meant to be… It was an emotional win for many reasons.”
Not only was this the fiftieth win of van Aert’s road racing career, and his second win in Siena (he won the 2020 Strade Bianche), but it also fulfilled his goal of having at least one stage victory in each of the Grand Tours. So there was real rejoicing when he embraced his wife and two sons after the stage.
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It’s Plan B for Roglič
His former teammate Roglič, however, can’t be happy, for he is looking at a huge task. He is now riding against two top UAE riders and will have to work twice as hard on almost every stage, win back time bit by bit and hope that he can gain more time on the big mountain stages.
In last year’s Vuelta, he trailed Ben O’Connor by nearly 5 minutes after stage 5, reduced that gap to 5 seconds by stage 18, and then blew O’Connor away on the stage-19 summit finish. But O’Connor is not a premium climber, and his former team, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, did not have the firepower that UAE has. And, let’s face it, he was only one foe; Roglič is going up against two and is now looking for a Plan B.
“It was just hard with the pace in the front and the back, obviously,” he said after the finish. “I didn’t feel the best of the best, but we’ll take it. I finished it, and now we’ll have to see what we do next… Today, we lost this minute [to Ayuso], but sometimes you lose, sometimes you win.” His Plan B must begin with Tuesday’s time trial, a discipline at which he excels.
Take me to your leader
The question for UAE Team Emirates–XRG now is who will they support for the maglia rosa: del Toro or Ayuso? The young Mexican has a bigger lead on Roglič, but he is an unknown quantity on the long climbs and in time trials – though he finished less than 1 second behind Ayuso in the short stage-2 time trial and 16 seconds behind Roglič. But Tuesday’s ITT is more than twice as long, and he has never raced in such a long ITT, he admitted.
Del Toro also seems unsure of his role in the following days. Asked if he was now the team leader in the race, he said, “I don’t think so. I have more confidence in the team and Adam [Yates] and Juan [Ayuso]. They showed they are ready to do a big job in three-week races. For sure, I’m in a good position, but I don’t think I am the leader, no.”
He was obviously delighted to be wearing a Grand Tour leader’s jersey at age 21. “It’s unbelievable for me, it’s so difficult to describe my feelings,” he said. “Everybody wants to wear this jersey, I wanted to do it, so now to actually have the jersey, it’s insane.” He added that he would nevertheless be happy to work as a domestique for Ayuso or Yates. “We will see how the race is going, but for sure, if they have super legs again like they have shown in other races, I will do it. There’s no problem or stress.”
Perhaps that decision will be made after Tuesday’s time trial. I think Roglič would be happy if Ayuso remained the leader because 1 minute is easier to make up than 2 minutes, and the gap will likely be less than 1 minute after the time trial. It’s a tough decision for UAE Team Emirates–XRG, but it’s a problem other teams would surely love to have.
2025 Giro d’Italia GC standings after Stage 9
1. Isaac del Toro, UAE Team Emirates–XRG 33:36:45
2. Juan Ayuso, UAE Team Emirates–XRG +1:13
3. Antonio Tiberi, Bahrain-Victorious +1:30
4. Richard Carapaz, EF Education–EasyPost +1:40
5. Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek +1:41
6. Simon Yates, Visma–Lease a Bike +1:42″
7. Egan Bernal, INEOS Grenadiers +1:57
8. Brandon McNulty, UAE Team Emirates–XRG +1:59
9. Adam Yates, UAE Team Emirates–XRG +2:01
10. Primož Roglič, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe +2:25
Results of Sunday’s Stage 9 of Giro d’Italia
1. Wout Van Aert, Visma–Lease a Bike 4:15:08
2. Isaac del Toro, UAE Team Emirates–XRG “
3. Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek +0:58
4. Richard Carapaz, EF Education–EasyPost “
5. Simon Yates, Visma–Lease a Bike +1:00
6. Antonio Tiberi, Bahrain-Victorious “
7. Juan Ayuso, UAE Team Emirates–XRG +1:07
8. Thymen Arensman, INEOS Grenadiers +1:10
9. Egan Bernal, INEOS Grenadiers “
10. Adam Yates, UAE Team Emirates–XRG “
