Van AertĀ (Visma-Lease a Bike), riding his first Giro, looked to have run out of steam coming into the final kilometre but recovered to overtakeĀ Del ToroĀ (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with Italy’sĀ Giulio CicconeĀ (Lidl-Trek) coming in third.
Pre-race favouriteĀ Primoz RoglicĀ (Red BullāBoraāHansgrohe) was involved in a crash and also suffered a puncture to lose valuable time in the general classification, dropping to 10th overall, two minutes and 25 seconds behind Del Toro.
The stage, a 181 kilometre ride from Gubbio to Siena, saw the first major shake-up of this year’s Giro in the race for the pink jersey, with the gravel sectors usually seen in the Strade Bianche one-day race suiting Van Aert best.
“This victory means a lot to me, I almost cannot explain it,”Ā Van Aert said.
“It had to be here I believe, because this place is where my road career started back in 2018.”
Van Aert finished third in the 2018 Strade Bianche and again the following year before tasting victory in 2020, and the 30-year-old Giro debutant made his experience count on a day when others faltered.
The Belgian was part of a chasing group which hunted down an earlier breakaway, and alongside Del Toro was able to shake off the likes ofĀ Egan BernalĀ with 15km to go, and the pair then fought for the stage win themselves.
There was plenty of action behind, with Roglic going down in the peloton in a crash which also claimed one of the stage favouritesĀ Tom Pidcock, and both riders suffered punctures to put them well out of contention.
Del Toro came into the final kilometre with the pink jersey already secured, as race leaderĀ Diego UlissiĀ (XDS-Astana) had been dropped by the peloton early in the stage, and the Mexican looked to have the legs to take the stage win too.
Van Aert, however, had let the Mexican do most of the work in the closing stages and found another gear coming into the final 400 metres on the narrow streets of Siena to overtake Del Toro, and despite a wobble on the final bend, claim victory.
EL TORITO IN PINK! šš #GirodItalia
Ladies and gentlemen, @ISAACDELTOROx1 is your first ever Mexican wearer of the @giroditalia maglia rosa! š¤©
What a performance from our Giro debutant, who finishes a close second to Wout van Aert after a battle for the ages on the whiteā¦ pic.twitter.com/lyaM1OGLcd
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) May 18, 2025
“I had to fight all the way to the top through the streets of Siena,”Ā Van Aert said.
“And because I know the final pretty well I needed to do the move in the last three corners. I almost missed the last one but the experience of Strade Bianche helped me win today.”
Del Toro holds a comfortable one minute and 13 second lead over Spain’sĀ Juan AyusoĀ going into Monday’s rest day, withĀ Antonio TiberiĀ third overall, a further 17 seconds back.
Tuesday’s stage 10 is a 28.6km individual time trial from Lucca to Pisa.
