Stage 9

The road

At the start

Gravel at the top of Campo Felice

Caleb Ewan goes home with two stage wins in his pocket, which hands the cyclamen jersey back to Merlier. Attila Valter still leads, eleven seconds over Evenepoel and sixteen over Bernal. Today is the hardest day of the race so far: six climbs, almost no valley road, and a finish nobody here has ridden — six kilometres to Campo Felice, the last 1.8 on steep gravel.

How it was won

1. 155 km to go

   Bouchard collects the points

   The Frenchman wins the sprint at the summit ahead of Mollema and Visconti, with the break holding around three minutes and the peloton in no hurry.

2. 223 km to go

   Ineos wind it up

   The pace from the pink jersey's team starts eating into the gap, and in response the break turns on itself — Carr and Bouchard clip clear, Bouchard taking maximum points and the virtual mountains lead.

3. 35 km to go

   Valter cracks

   Inside the final five kilometres the maglia rosa drifts to the back of a thinning peloton as Ineos set a severe pace. Ahead, Bouchard's two-minute cushion is collapsing.

4. 41 km to go

   Onto the gravel

   Bouwman catches Bouchard just as the road turns to dirt with a kilometre to go, the two of them scrapping over a stage that is about to be taken off both of them.

5. 5At the line

   Bernal explodes up the dirt

   Five hundred metres from the line, on a steep gravel track, Vlasov attacks and Bernal counters him with a burst so violent that he is past Bouwman and Bouchard before either can react. It is the ride of a rider who has spent eighteen months wondering whether his back would ever let him do this again.

6. 6At the line

   Campo Felice

   Bernal takes the stage and the maglia rosa, with Valter dropped behind him. The Giro has found its leader.

The result