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Giro d'Italia Stage 9: Nairo Quintana blows the race apart on the Blockhaus

Crash ahead of final ascent deals blow to podium hopes of Team Sky's Geraint Thomas and Orica-Scott's Adam Yates...

Nairo Quintana is the new leader of the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia after blowing the race apart with an attack around 6 kilometres from the Stage 9 summit finish on the Blockhaus , on a day that Team Sky's Geraint Thomas's hopes of a podium place were wrecked by a crash that was caused by a rider in front of him hitting a parked motorbike.

Thomas had been second overall behind Quick Step Floors rider Bob Jungels this morning, but finished more than 5 minutes behind Quintana.

The crash, which happened on the approach to the climb that concluded the stage, also saw Sky's other overall hope, Mikel Landa, lose contact with the front group, as did Orica-Scott's Adam Yates who had been third on GC before the stage.

It was a depleted overall contenders' group therefore that took to the toughest ascent so far of this year's race, and when Quintana launched an attack with 6 kilometres remaining, only defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Bahrain Merida and FDJ's Thibaut Pinot could stay with him.

The Colombian dropped both to ride on to an emphatic victory, while a flagging Nibali was overhauled by Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin, who got across to Pinot but was outsprinted to second place by the French rider.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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RobD | 7 years ago
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Dumoulin for the pink jersey tomorrow? 24 seconds seems possible for him to overhaul quintana and there's not many others I can see who could take that much from him on the TT

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Chris Hayes | 7 years ago
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How strong is Tom Dumoulin....again.  Great ride for such a big guy. 

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antonio | 7 years ago
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Err, I thought the police motor bike blew the race apart, sure Quintana raced away but it could have been so different!

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