Not even the rain could stop him. Primoz Roglic took his second win of the race, again in a time-trial. Not only stage winner as the moral winner of the day, as he gained an amount of time bigger than expected over some of his rivals, including Simon Yates and Miguel Angel Lopez who lost over 3 minutes. Campenaerts was the early leader of the time-trial and took advantage of the drier begining of the course, he had a mechanical in the final climb and a slow bike change seemed to have cost him the win. Valerio Conti fought on in the intense rain to retain the pink jersey, but is now followed right by Roglic himself.
Positive: Roglic was the big winner, but several other riders had a very good day. Vincenzo Nibali and Bauke Mollema rode specially well, 3rd and 4th in the day, the EF riders also rode very strongly, 5th for Kangert and 8th for Hugh Carthy mean both are well in the overall contention. Pello Bilbao, Mattia Cattaneo and Richard Carapaz had strong results, and Zakarin and Majka rode a solid TT limiting their losses well, Conti rode to stay in pink and Nans Peters hopped to the U25 lead.
Negative: Yates and Lopez, the latter had a misfortune of a puncture but both lost way too much time and will be forced to race afressively when the race reaches the Alps. Campenaerts' technical was also very badly timed, it may have been the decisive factor in the stage fight. Formolo and Landa also didn't have great legs today and lost quite some time, still they were faster than Yates.
After the first rest day comes an easy stage, only 145 kilometers between Ravenna and Modena and the roads will be pan-flat all day long. There isn't much risk of crosswinds except for specific conditions on the day, the finish isn't technical at all except for a short slight pavé section in the center of Modena before the final kilometer.
The Weather
A nice temperature, the race will be having over 20 degrees which will come as pleasant unlike the cold rainy first week, although the riders may not escape the rain. Not heavy but there's rain forecast for the finish in Modena, there's a solid chance of having another wet sprint.
The Favourites
The sprinters we know very well, there isn't anything new at this point of the race, just rinse and repeat.
Ackermann has seemed like the most dominant sprinter so far, he didn't look as good in stage 8 though, perhaps his quest for the Maglia Ciclamino is having some fatigue that's been felt, but after a rest day he should be fine. Caleb Ewan and Elia Viviani are the main opposition, both with strong leadouts, both with strong legs and can just as easily take it.
In an intermediate level is Arnaud Démare, who's yet to win a stage, his sprint isn't as strong as the previous but he has been consistent and has a good leadout aswell.
Outside from then, Giacomo Nizzolo and Ryan Gibbons will have another go hoping to get a strong result that's been lacking the team. Jakub Mareczko will have a go in pan-flat stages, his specialty, Matteo Moschetti of Trek, Androni's Manuel Belletti and Israel's Davide Cimolai have also been very consistent in the sprints. Up to a point Simone Consonni may also be considered a contender having freedom to sprint now, but his team is down to 6 and focusing on protecting the pink jersey so it isn't easy to be up there.
Prediction Time
⭐ Mareczko, Belletti, Cimolai, Nizzolo, Consonni, Moschetti
Ackermann seems to be the most motivated rider in the peloton by the looks of his interviews, his leadout has been working the best out of every team and the team is very motivated with two wins and both GC riders in a good position, I've gone for Viviani some times pushing that his time will come (chances are he will now win), but Ackermann is the one who gives the results, so I'm going with him.
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