As we approach stage 10 of the 2014 Giro d’Italia, fresh out of a rest day yesterday, let’s take some time to reflect on the weekend’s stages and how the race has unfolded so far.

In stages 7 to 9, we saw the maglia rosa change hands, some exciting sprint finishes and a few broken men; all typical of a tough prestigious such as tour the Giro.

Stage 7 – Bouhanni beats them again

Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni took his second stage victory this week as he sprinted past Giacomo Nizzolo (TREK) and Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano). General Classification leader Michael Matthews came in over the line in forth place, keeping hold of his maglia rosa  for the time being.

Spirits were high in the ORICA GreenEDGE camp with Matthews leading the way, see their video footage of stage 7 below for an inside look at the guys.

 
Check out this video of the Giro d’Italia Stage 7 from ORICA GreenEDGE:

Stage 8 – changing gradients.

Stage 8 was 179km of constantly varying ground levels, the gradients were rolling and changing, especially in the final 5 kilometres. This proved difficult for the more ‘straight-forward’ riders and sprinters, allowing for those who hadn’t yet proved themselves to rise up and shine on this technical stage.

We saw a series of late attacks from a different crowd this stage, first with Nairo Quintana, Cadel Evans and finally Diego Ulissi who took the stage win. 37 year old Cadel Evans now wears the maglia rosa as he snatches it from Aussie Michael Matthews.

Giro D'Italia 2014 - 8th stage

Image courtesy of The Guardian (Luca Zennaro/EPA)

 
Giro d’Italia Stage 8 video highlights:

Stage 9 – Cadel continues to wear pink as the peloton head through Bologna.

stage 9 bologna

Photo: Tim De Waele

Stage 9 saw the riders pass through Bologna, as it started in Lugo and headed towards Sestola, covering 172 kilometres in total.

As if Cadel Evans taking the jersey from Michael Matthews’ back last stage wasn’t bad enough, sand gets rubbed in his eyes as he is involved in a fairly bad, sizeable group crash.

matthews atage 9 crash

Photo: BrakeThrough Media

Matthews does however, manage to continue racing, as he got back on the bike to finish the race.

Pieter Weening (Netherlands) took the stage 9 victory, putting ORICA Greenedge ins a strong position for the Giro.

 
Stage 9 video highlights:

Giro d’Italia 2014 Stage 9 Results:1 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica Greenedge 4:25:51
2 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar
3 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:40
4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:01:08
5 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
8 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Team Sky
9 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
10 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia

General Classification after 9 Stages:

1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
2 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
5 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
6 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
9 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team
10 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing

 

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