Giro d'Italia: Olav Kooij wins stage 9 sprint as Tadej Pogacar leads out peloton and Jhonatan Narváez' attack is caught mid-sprint
Cycling
A thrilling finale to the Giro d'Italia's first week! The flat finale into Napoli saw the attacks of Julian Alaphilippe and Jhonatan Narváez... The latter was caught mid-sprint after Tadej Pogacar led out the peloton but in the end it was Olav Kooij who surprised to take the win.
The long day on the bike wasn't too motivating for those looking to form a breakaway. Only two Polti - Kometa riders attacked at the start of the stage: Mirco Maestri and Andrea Pietrobon. This move was comfortably controlled by the peloton, who occasionally accelerated in the intermediate sprints.
With 58 kilometers to go Geraint Thomas crashed, but quickly managed to return to the peloton with the support of his INEOS Grenadiers teammates. The race was calm until the final sequence of hilltops.
The likes of Tim Merlier and DSM duo Tobias Lund Andresen and Fabio Jakobsen were dropped early on. With 27 kilometers to go Julian Alaphilippe launched an attack, triggering a small group to go off the front in the penultimate ascent of the day. Eventually there was no coordination and he attacked even from the group itself together with Ewen Costiou.
Costiou was caught with 10 kilometers to go however at the base of the final ascent as Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck controlled the peloton, Alaphilippe remained in front alone. However this was only until the puncheurs in the peloton decided to make a move. Jhonatan Narváez attacked towards the end of the climb.
Several riders tried to make the bridge and led a very fast-moving peloton, but the Ecuadorian champion looked to get the same result as the opening day. Into the final flat kilometers his gap held quite well and became a true headache, whilst Lidl-Trek and Team Jayco AlUla looked to close it down urgently.
Tadej Pogacar and Simone Consonni led out the peloton in the final 500 meters; Jonathan Milan launched his sprint and Narváez was only caught in the very final meters of the stage. Milan looked to have it but Team Visma | Lease a Bike sprinter Olav Kooij beat the points classification leader at the line taking a huge win. Milan was second whilst Juan Sebastián Molano finished third.
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