Giro d’Italia stage 9 LIVE: Decathlon-CMA CGM control the break with focus on GC stage battle to come

The peloton is in one long line thanks to Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (Decathlon-CMA CGM) setting a high tempo.

The peloton have really got this breakaway on a tight leash now with just 2’25” splitting the eight out front and the Decathlon-CMA CGM led bunch.

Tarozzi and Hamilton get caught with the gap to the leaders just under three minutes. This is a stage for the GC riders whether Vingegaard wants it or not. The one bonus for Visma-Lease a Bike is that they will probably take the stage in this scenario and maybe put another big chunk of time into Eulálio as well.

And now the race shows it’s true colours. Decathlon-CMA CGM hit the front of the peloton with a high tempo being set. Bahrain Victorious sit behind the sole rider from Decathlon-CMA CGM with Visma-Lease a Bike also following behind them.

It looks like Tarozzi and Hamilton have given up on the chase as the gap goes beyond two minutes. They can now drift back to the bunch.

The riders out front now have their team cars up with them and are taking the opportunity to take on gels, bars, bidons etc as they settle into the day.

The leaders have about a minute on Tarozzi and Hamilton with a further minute back from them to the peloton.

After an hour of racing the average speed is said to be 44.7kph.

If someone in the break took the maximum 59 points in the KOM standings today they would slot into third place one point behind Sevilla and two points behind Vingegaard.

The counter attack is from Tarozzi as well as Chris Hamilton. The frustrating thing for Visma-Lease a Bike is that not one of the riders in the break are dangerous in the KOM classification. If the break is to go the distance they would’ve wanted the blue jersey to be taken from them as well.

Picnic-PostNL and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre go again and, this time, it looks like the peloton has fully sat up and this will be the break of the day. These new attackers have about a minute to bridge, though.

Out front, the break are working together well with everyone coming through to take their turns. The gap is just sat under a minute to the peloton, though.

The peloton is back to being one long line again as teams are unhappy about missing the break or not getting the right riders up the road.

Milan attacks and gets away without Magnier with him. That sees Soudal-QuickStep hit the front of the peloton to chase down the big Italian sprinter. This isn’t good news for the leaders as they gap drops slightly.

The open front of the peloton means that there is still space for new attackers as well with Picnic-PostNL unhappy with just having Naberman out front when riders like Rubio have made it in there as well.

Marcellusi goes again with a teammate on his wheel taking a few others with them but, again, the peloton comes back as Milan and his Magnier shadow come out of the bunch again.

The peloton splitting into multiple groups out front but Morgado and co sit up as it comes together again. Maltese rider Andrea Mifsud (Polti-Visit Malta) goes clear with Larry Warbasse (Tudor) trying to follow. Mifsud gets a gap but is quickly closed again.

A new attack from Morgado. He has a long line of riders following him but a group of 8 gets a good gap. That move doesn’t last long, though. Groupama-FDJ United are keen to join in which brings the peloton back to them.

Interesting that Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) has made it into this chase group as he is in the fight with Sevilla for the Fuga prize for most kilometres out front of the race. He also leads the intermediate sprint and Red Bull kilometre competitions. However, that is all brought back with Ballerini and Milesi out front by 33″.

Planckaert has sat up from the lead group and joins the chasers to make a group of 10 behind the two leaders.

Another new move comes from the peloton, though. Yesterday’s runner up, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) goes clear but has a string of riders following.

Lidl-Trek miss the move with Ciccone and can’t bridge the gap as this new counter move appears to be going clear.

More moves go clear as that counter was caught. Milan joins with Magnier latched onto his wheel again. Milan’s purple shadow.

More riders continue to try and bridge to this new move as Crescioli does make the bridge.

More moves go clear with Unibet-Rose-Rockets, Alpecin-Premier Tech, Uno-X Mobility and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre going clear with Lidl-Trek trying to chase but as Walscheid swings off to encourage Ciccone to kick across, the move pulls away further.

Pinarello-Q36.5, EF Edcuation-EasyPost, Uno-X Mobility and Movistar all keen to be up there as well as Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre and Polti-Visit Malta.

So many riders have tried to bridge to the trio out front but now the gap goes beyond 40″ as the peloton sits up again.

And it is back together with just Ballerini, Milesi and Planckaert still 28″ clear as Picnic-PostNL and Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre start the game again.

Walscheid continues the pressure with Ciccone locked onto his wheel. Behind, Unibet-Rose-Rockets try to go clear as Antonio Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) starts to get involved for the first time since Bulgaria.

Walscheid tries to take Ciccone clear but as the race splits, Visma-Lease a Bike send Tim Rex across with James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost). And, of course, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are all over that and the game gets another reset.

Filippo Turconi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) and Ludovico Crescioli (Polti-Visit Malta) try to move but then Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) tries to lead out Giulio Ciccone. That sees points jersey Paul Magnier and teammate Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep) coaxed out of the bunch.

Ecuadorian and Colombian champions of Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) sitting at the back as the peloton have really eased on the pace with the leading trio now taking their gap to 24″.

The counter moves continue to stall with Milesi, Planckaert, and Ballerini still hodling 14″ on the peloton.

Uno-X Mobility starts chasing but Andrea Raccagni (Soudal-Quickstep) launches to try and force a new break.

The rider who finished last yesterday, Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Premier Tech) joins Ballerini alongside Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar). They have 11″ gap on the bunch who are looking to have stalled in their pacing for now.

Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) launches for the second time. They will be very keen to get Christian Scaroni into the days break.

Forming a breakaway on a major summit finish day in a Grand Tour is really like a game of chess. The riders close back together again as Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) hit the front.

Max Walscheid is leading out his Lidl-Trek teammate Giulio Ciccone in an attack. Also, Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche) is in that group. Interesting early tactics with Decathlon-CMA CGM getting Oliver Naesen up the road as well.

It is a beautiful roll out for the riders in a very sunny Emilia Romagna. However, the forecast for the final climb says we may have temperatures at around 4 degrees Celsius!