Wout van Aert wins sensational Giro d'Italia stage nine over the gravel as Isaac Del Toro moves into pink

Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) roared to a magnificent win on stage nine of the 2025 Giro d'Italia, beating Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in a two-up sprint into the Piazza del Campo in Siena after a breathless stage which saw Primož Roglič crash and lose time.

21-year-old Mexican Del Toro moves into the overall lead of the race after pink jersey Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana) faded early on his home roads.

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) led home a splintered chase group, 58 seconds behind the leaders. Several big name GC riders lost further time on a non-stop day through the dusty roads of Tuscany.

Del Toro now holds a lead of 1:13 over his team-mate Juan Ayuso, with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) third 1:30 behind.

With 51km to go, Roglič and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) were involved in a small crash heading round a left hand bend on the Serravalle gravel sector. Both then suffered punctures later on and lost significant time in the overall classification.

Pidcock finished the stage in 15th with Roglič in 19th, both 2:22 behind Van Aert. Roglič now sits in 10th on GC, 2:25 behind Del Toro, with Pidcock down in 16th, 3:35 in arrears.

The 21-year-old former winner of the Tour de l'Avenir had created the winning move with an attack on the gravel with just less than 50km to go, forming an elite group that included Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Van Aert.

The new pink jersey benefitted from work done by Bernal and his Ineos Grenadiers team-mates, attacking again on the Colle Pinzuto to form the final winning move with Van Aert.

Del Toro continued to drive the pace for his GC ambitions, meaning he was powerless as Van Aert came round him at the top of the steep pitch up to the Piazza del Campo. Van Aert took a win which will be welcome to him and his team after a difficult couple of years with injury.

"This victory means a lot to me. I almost cannot explain it. It had to be here, I believe. This place is where my road career started, back in 2018," Van Aert told the TV cameras after the stage.

"And to win this stage after a long period without delivering finally again, it feels so good."

A former winner of Strade Bianche in 2020, Van Aert knew the final climb to the finish well and timed his move to perfection. He thought that his experience in the one-day classic played a role in beating Del Toro to the line, but was complimentary of his breakaway companion.

"I have to say, he did such an amazing ride. I felt a bit s**t to not pull too much with him, because obviously he's also a competitor for my team-mate, Simon Yates, and I had to leave the work to him."

"But still, it was so close to beat him. I had to fight all the way to the top, to the streets of Siena. Because I know the final pretty well, I needed to do the move in the last few corners."

"Once you're there in first position, it's pretty close to the line. So of course I knew it after a few Strade Bianches."

How it happened

A gravel stage in a Grand Tour is always hotly anticipated. That well-worn adage is always appropriate over the white roads: you can’t win the Giro d’Italia today, but you can certainly lose it. The GC riders would be on edge, with the fear of possible punctures and crashes enough to keep some awake at night.

The stage rolled out of Gubbio to a fairly ordinary beginning. The peloton would have to wait until 113km into the day until hitting the gravel.

Six riders formed the main breakaway of the day early on. They were: Kaden Groves, Quinten Hermans (both Alpecin-Deceuninck), Milan Fretin (Cofidis), Dries de Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty and Luke Lamperti (Soudal-QuickStep).

The sextet developed a lead that peaked at around two-and-a-half minutes, but were kept on a tight leash for much of the first two hours of racing through the impetus of Q36.5, who were riding to set up Pidcock for the stage.

De Bondt rolled over the line to take twelve points at the opening intermediate sprint in Mercartale. Following shortly after was the first of two categorised climbs of the stage. Quinten Hermans crossed over the top first to take his first points in the mountains classification at this Giro.

The peloton had accelerated on the climb and pulled the gap back to 90 seconds. Q36.5 were keen to keep the pace high throughout the day. That gap stayed the same as the break went through halfway point and the intermediate sprint in Sinalunga, again won by De Bondt.

From here on the tension rose. Every single GC team seemed to want to move to the front of the bunch as they approached the all important gravel sectors. Several splits in the peloton were created and closed on the roads leading into the Pieve a Salti.

Heading onto the 8km opening sector, the break’s advantage remained the same. In the peloton Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) led onto the sector. Shortly after, Josh Tarling guided his Ineos Grenadiers leader Egan Bernal into perfect position. Immediately, overnight pink jersey Ulissi slipped back through the back on his dream day in the leader’s jersey on home roads.

The gap to the front was disintegrating under the pressure of the peloton as the Maglia Ciclamino, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), rode on the front in the service of Giulio Ciccone, with Pidcock and Bernal close behind. With 64km left, and with more than half of the first sector to go, the group of favourites had shattered to around 15 riders. The likes of Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) were all marginally distanced early as Pedersen drove on the pace.

Team-mates Groves and Hermans had gapped the rest of the break and held a 45 second lead over the favourites group at the end of the first sector. There was a short respite back on the tarmac before the longest gravel section, the Serravalle.

Most of the favourites who had been distanced earlier had come back, however Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL), sitting in seventh overall before this stage, had missed the crucial split. Heading onto the second sector, Tudor’s GC leader Michael Storer crashed out of the front group.

Then with 51km left, there was a major crash in the group of favourites, with Roglič and Pidcock on the floor. The race was on, though. Del Toro took off, pursued by Van Aert, Bernal, Brandon Rivera and Thymen Arensman. A chasing group was hoping to close the gap, but Roglič had been impacted by the crash and was distanced. He was caught by another group, which also contained team-mate Giulio Pellizzari to aid his chase back to the front.

A group of seven had formed in the lead, comprising: Groves, Hermans, Van Aert, Del Toro, Rivera, Arensman and Bernal. They quickly built a half-minute lead on the larger pursuing group, while Roglič was losing a minute. Further disaster for the 2023 Giro champion followed with a puncture. A further time loss for the Slovenian seemed inevitable with 45km and three more sectors still to go.

The gap between the main chasing group, which contained Ayuso, Tiberi, Carapaz and both Yates brothers, and the front was growing towards a minute as the riders skipped onto the next sector. The San Martino in Grania gravel portion was the most challenging in terms of climbing and contained within it a fourth category climb. Pidcock had punctured and was now with Roglič around a minute down on the Ayuso group with 40km to go.

Pidcock and Roglič were chasing hard, catching an intermediate group and getting to within 30 seconds of Ayuso towards the top of San Martino. Up front, Rivera was riding out of his skin, doing the lion’s share of the work for Bernal, with Van Aert and Del Toro sitting on.

Most of the gravel had now been covered, with just two short, uphill sectors to follow in the final 20km. Matthias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) attacked the Ayuso group in an attempt to bridge to the front. The Czech soon dropped the Australian and closed in on the front quartet, still led by Rivera with 25km left until they reached the Piazza del Campo.

A couple of kilometres later Vacek had crossed the gap to create a front five now one minute ahead of the chasers, with the Roglič and Pidcock group a further 30 seconds behind with Pellizzari working for the Slovenian.

With 20km left, Del Toro attacked on the Montaperti, the penultimate gravel sector. Van Aert was able to follow immediately, but Bernal took a little longer to come across. Vacek fell behind but chased back on as Rivera was ejected from the front to make a lead group of four approaching the Colle Pinzuto, the final gravel sector of a storied day.

The collaboration at the front fell apart after that acceleration. Suddenly no-one wanted to pull on the front with Rivera gone and the quartet began to play with their one-minute lead.

Del Toro went again on the Colle Pinzuto. Van Aert was stuck to his wheel but Bernal and Vacek faded. Ciccone accelerated behind, followed by Carapaz before Ayuso drove the pace on the front. However, they remained a minute behind Del Toro and Van Aert. Del Toro led over the top of the Colle Pinzuto, which also served as the stage’s Red Bull Kilometre. Now it was a rolling 14km approach to the finish in Siena.

Del Toro was driving on, with Van Aert refusing to give a turn on the run-in with his team’s GC leader Simon Yates in the group behind. The Mexican appeared to be the stronger rider as he expanded their gap to the chasers with 10km to go. Bernal looked fatigued and drifted back into the clutches of Ayuso and the rest.

In the Ayuso group, Adam Yates took to the front despite team-mate Del Toro being up ahead, but the gap remained steady as the final wall to the finish-line approached.

Del Toro continued to lead as the final climb began. Van Aert remained locked onto his wheel as they came into contact with the steepest pitches. The Belgian came past Del Toro with 400 metres to go and held on to take a magnificent victory on an exhilarating stage in Tuscany.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2025, stage 9: Gubbio > Siena

1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 4:15:08
2. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, same time
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +58s
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +same time
5. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:00
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, same time
7. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:07
8. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:10
9. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
10. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all same time

Giro d'Italia 2025 general classification after stage 8

1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 33:36:45
2. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:13
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:30
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:40
5. Giulio Ciccone, (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +1:41
6. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:42
7. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:57
8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:59
9. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:01
10. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:25