Almeida top-5 on climb to Blockhaus

Joao Almeida put in a determined display on the slopes of the Blockhaus to take 5th place on Stage 9 of the Giro D’Italia.

The hardest climbing stage of the race so far saw the riders go from Isernia to Blockhaus (191km) which packed over 5000 metres of climbing. There was a strong pace set in the bunch as it splintered on the early slopes of Blockhaus with Rui Costa setting the pace and Davide Formolo in support of Almeida into the last 10km.

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) took the win from the reduced group of favourites, with Almeida fighting his way to 5th and setting himself up nicely for the General Classification.

Almeida and UAE Team Emirates now go into the rest day tomorrow in 2nd place overall, just 12’’ down on race leader Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo).

Almeida : “I was not feeling so good all day. I was suffering a lot but I managed to save the situation. I’m happy I could finish with the front group, I was on the limit but I looked around and saw that everyone was struggling too. In the end it was a great race today and I suffered through and made the best of it. ”

Stage 9 results

1.Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) 5:34:44
2.Romain Bardet (DSM) s.t
3.Richard Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers) s.t
5. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.

General Classification after stage 9

1.Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) 37:52:01
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +12’’
3.Romain Bardet (DSM) +14’’