Pallade Veneta - Vingegaard climbs to victory as Eulalio holds firm in pink

This was Vingegaard's second stage win here but surprise overall leader and fifth-place finisher Eulalio kept his losses to a limit and remains just shy of 2min 30sec ahead of the Dane.

Vingegaard was sporting the king of the mountains blue jersey as stage nine embarked from the pretty Adriatic seaside town of Cervia for a sunny but breezy 184km route, culminating with a gradual 28km uphill slog.

Home hero, the veteran climber Giulio Ciccone, was part of the original escape and attacked 10km from the summit, knowing however that he was doomed with the peloton less than 2min adrift.

Eulalio grabbed a sizeable lead on stage five and has held his own against Giro favourite Vingegaard and third-placed Felix Gall with great pluck.

Austrian Gall was second again Sunday just 12sec off the pace, while Visma's Davide Piganzoli was third, Thymen Arensman of Ineos fourth and Eulalio fifth at 40sec.

Vingegaard ignited his own Giro title bid on Friday on the formidable Blockhaus climb, and showed again here the damage he might wreak in the final week.

On Monday, the peloton can take a deep breath on the second rest day.

But on Tuesday, a potentially decisive 42km individual time-trial along Italy's west coast can settle or stall the Giro ambitions of the title pretenders.

Some 17 riders have pulled out so far by comparison with 25 who failed to complete the 3,000km trek to Rome in 2025.

L.Barone--PV