Kooij closes the first week of the 2024 Giro with a victory in Naples

The ninth stage between Avezzano and Naples marked the end of the first week of the 2024 Giro d'Italia, a stage in which Olav Kooij (Visma Lease a Bike) won the sprint ahead of Milan and Narváez.

Kooij wins stage 9 in Naples at the 2024 Giro

After two quite eventful stages in terms of the general classification, the ninth stage arrived with the only doubt of whether the victory in Naples would be in a predictable final sprint or if any escapee could have their chance.

The Polti-Kometa team of Alberto Contador was one of the protagonists of the day with a kilometric breakaway in which Italians Mirco Maestri and Andrea Pietrobon were in the lead for more than 4 hours. But the action would come much later.

The last kilometers of the stage drew a continuous up and down that put the entire peloton on edge and demanded maximum concentration from the teams that wanted to position their sprinters well. With 20 km to go, some made moves to avoid the sprint, like Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) or Ewen Costiou (Arkea), but Alpecin and Lidl Trek made sure that didn't come to fruition.

Ecuadorian Narváez (INEOS Grenadier) launched a final attack to try to win solo again, but he couldn't prevent the final sprint from overtaking him. Olav Kooij was the fastest and took the stage ahead of Milan and Molano.

Tadej Pogacar, who was very present in the final sprint launch, closes his first week as the leader and confirms that it only depends on him to win this Giro d'Italia.

Stage 9 Classification

1. Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) 4h44'22''
2. Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek) +00''
3. Sebastian Molano (UAE) +00''
4. Alberto Dainese (tudor) +00''
5. Danny Van Poppel (BORA) +00''
6. Madis Mihkels (Intermaché) +00''
7. Kaden Groves (Alpecin Deceunick) +00''
8. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R)+00''
9. Davide Ballerini (Astana) +00''
10. Max Kanter (Astana) +00''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 32:59:04
2. Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2'40''
3. Geraint Thomas (INEOS-Grenadiers) +2'58''
4. Ben O'Connor (INEOS-Grenadiers) +3'39''
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike), +4'02''
6. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +4'23''
7. Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana) +5'15''
8. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +5'28''
9. Thymen Arensman (INEOS-Grenadiers) +5'30''
10. Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep) +5'53''