PREVIEW | Giro d'Italia 2023 stage 9 - Crucial time-trial to see Evenepoel and Roglic go head-to-head once again

Preview. The fight for the overall classification has truly begun finally this afternoon, and everything is open for stage 9. The Giro d'Italia sees it's second individual time-trial in what will perhaps be the most important day of the first week.

2023 will be an edition favourable to the time-trialists. The 9th stage of the Giro d'Italia is certain to be a time-trial with a distance of 35 kilometers. Savignano sul Rubicone and Cesena host the start and finish of what is an important day for the overall classification.

Estimated start and finish times for Giro d'Italia stage 9: 13:10-17:10CET

There is a hilly, a mountainous and a flat time-trial. This one is the latter, but also the longest. The roads will be completely flat from start to finish however not perfectly straightforward. There are a few tricky corners throughout the course however as long as riders take precaution crashes shouldn't be a risk.

It's a day to make time, the specialists can easily take something like two minutes on the more modest competition. It's perhaps the most important day of the opening week, where gaps will further be cemented.

The Weather

A small northern breeze, however it's the rain that can make a difference in the day. Take it with a grain of salt, the forecast pointed towards rain today but that didn't come. Here it'd be less important as it's not a technical time-trial, but if the weather changes during the afternoon (likely it becomes less likely to rain later) the few turns should see a few seconds gained/lost which could be crucial.

The Favourites

Remco Evenepoel - He has powered through the opening day like never before. On first glance the Belgian is clearly the man to beat, with Filippo Ganna out of the race and with him showing tremendous speed even on the pan-flat roads. Aero matters much and he's got it, he'll need to take as much time as possible but as seen today he doesn't look at his very best level - likely as a result of the crashes.

Primoz Roglic - There will be motivation from Roglic after having dropped Evenepoel today. The gap to Evenepoel came down from 44 to 30 seconds, not a huge hit but a psychological blow above all. He now knows he can win time uphill, and indicators point towards his form being on the up as well. I think we'll see a much stronger Roglic in this time-trial, but that doesn't mean he won't lose time.

Stefan Küng - With Ganna out Küng becomes the main time-trialist (pure, you could say) on the start but I admit he will likely still struggle. On his best day he can defeat this competition but it will not be easy. The Swiss had the opportunity but he has not saved himself today, in fact it seemed like he was doing quite a lot of effort in the end which I couldn't comprehend. After a modest opening time-trial he needs to step up his level if he wants a win out of this race.

The most important plot of the day is the GC fight. If the opening time-trial has shown us anything is that some of the podium contenders are also rolling at an impressive speed. Both João Almeida and Tao Geoghegan Hart impressed and they should be among the best once again if they carry the same speed. This time around Geraint Thomas is likely to join them, having improved his form throughout the week and seemingly being back to his best level.

The likes of Jay Vine and Lennard Kämna could also be there within the Top10, even more on a good day. Andreas Leknessund is unlikely to keep his pink jersey but he is strong against the clock and will likely remain inside the podium. Others will likely have their mind only in limiting the losses, which is understandable seeing the quality of this field against the clock.

Out of those who had the freedom to save their legs a bit over the last few days and could perhaps benefit from it you would see Mads Pedersen, Michael Hepburn, Bruno Armirail, Will Barta, Edoardo Affini, Josef Cerny... The likes of today's winner Ben Healy himself or maybe Rohan Dennis could also have a go.

Prediction Giro d'Italia 2023 stage 9:

*** Remco Evenepoel
** Primoz Roglic, Stefan Küng, Geraint Thomas
* João Almeida, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Jay Vine, Lennard Kämna, Mads Pedersen, Edoardo Affini, Josef Cerny

Pick: Remco Evenepoel