“Things went wrong at the worst possible moment” - Max Poole loses time and GC position in chaotic Giro gravel stage

Stage 9 of the 2025 Giro d’Italia promised both glory and heartbreak, and on the rugged strade bianche of Tuscany, Max Poole was among those who endured the latter.

While some riders thrived in the white-road chaos, others, like Primoz Roglic and Poole, saw their General Classification hopes take a hit. The Team Picnic PostNL rider began the day in a strong 7th place overall, but after a series of misfortunes, he dropped to 23rd by the end of the stage.

“It was one of those days where things went wrong at the worst possible moment,” Poole admitted in the team’s post-stage press release. The young Brit suffered a puncture early on the gravel and was forced to ride several sectors on teammate Romain Bardet’s bike.

“You know, we did really well actually. I’m proud of the guys,” said Poole. “I rode Romain Bardet’s bike for two or three sectors after that. Alex Edmondson did a great job coming back and doing some work, Chris Hamilton did some really strong front turns.”

Despite the team's efforts to limit the damage, Poole lost 5 minutes and 2 seconds to new race leader Isaac del Toro, and now sits 5 minutes and 35 seconds off the overall lead.

"You know that things like that can happen on these roads. We just did our best to keep making meters," he said. "I stayed pretty calm, because you have to focus on what you can do. It was going so well the first week, so it's a bit disappointing to end the week like this, losing a lot of time. It cancels each other out. We have a rest day now and then we'll go for it again."

The stage was ultimately won by Wout van Aert, who claimed his first victory of the season in Siena after a spectacular duel with Del Toro. For Poole and his teammates, though, it was a day of survival, recovery, and regrouping ahead of the second week of racing.