The 2019 Giro d’Italia Heads Into Week Two

Yates Falters and Roglic Pulls Ahead

Primoz Roglic put his mark on the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, winning the stage nine time-trial and putting the hurt on his rivals in one fell swoop. He finished the rain and hail strewn 34.8km run to San Marino in 51mins 52sec. That time brought him to the line a full 1min 05sec faster than Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and a devastating 3min 11sec faster than Simon Yates, who was clearly in trouble on the final climb.

“It’s a perfect performance in my mind,” Roglic said. “I did a good job. I took it easy at the beginning and I gave it all at the end. It’s nice to take some time over the other GC favorites but the Giro is far from over.”

Victor Campanaerts, the current hour record holder, finished in second place, 11 seconds behind Roglic. He likely would have won the stage had it not been for a botched bike change at the base of the final climb. The road bike he hopped on was in the wrong gear so he couldn’t get moving.

The win puts Roglic in second place in the overall standings behind overnight leader Valerio Conti of Italy.

Looking Ahead

Nine stages into the first Grand Tour of 2019 and the tension is building for the general classification batter. After a quiet first week, the stage nine time trial exposed some cracks.

Primož Roglič dominated the second TT of the 2019 edition, taking stage victory and making some huge gains over his nearest rivals. He appears to be the strongest man on the road right now and it’s his race to lose. Former Giro d’Italia winner Tom Dumoulin, who had been a race favorite in the days leading up to the race, crashed out and abandoned the race. Vincenzo Nibali has moved into the second favorite spot thanks to a strong showing in the second TT. Simon Yates, however, lost a huge chunk of time during his poor showing on stage nine. It’s too early to count him out with so much climbing yet to go, but he’s going to have to claw his way back to the top.