Top 10 for Bernal and Arensman on gritty gravel stage at Giro

A gritty day on the gravel saw Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal finish in the top 10 on the ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia.

The riders battled 181km, 29.5km of which was gravel, and two categorised climbs, with mechanicals and crashes marring much of the peloton.

The first sector of gravel with 67km to go saw Josh Tarling power on the front and splinter the peloton. A select group, including Bernal, Arensman, Brandon Rivera, Ben Turner, as well as GC favourites went clear.

As the gravel began to effect the riders with crashes and mechanicals, Rivera continued to power on the front, reducing the break to him, Bernal, Arensman, Wout van Aert (Visma - Lease A Bike) and Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG).

With 37km to go, Arensman suffered an unfortunate mechanical, dropping from the break and having to switch bikes with Turner.

Rivera continued to work hard on the front, with Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) bridging over with 23km to go. Del Toro attacked soon after, but was unable to shake the three riders, before going again four kilometres later. Bernal was unable to hold on and battled alone before regrouping with Arensman with six kilometres remaining.

The pair worked hard together in the chasing bunch, with Arensman crossing the line in eighth and Bernal in ninth.

The Colombian rider now sits in seventh on the GC, with Arensman in 13th.

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Egan Bernal:

"Today’s race plan was not rocket science. We had to be at the forefront coming into the first gravel sector, and race full gas from then on. We just needed to stay at the front sector after sector. We have managed to finish in a good position, but I lacked a bit of power not to get dropped off the head of the race in the final after spending a lot of energy in the previous kilometres.

"We all know already how good a rider Brandon Rivera is. He nearly was the strongest guy out there today.”