Giro d'Italia: Evenepoel back in pink, takes stage win with one second to spare

Remco Evenepoel has won the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday. The Belgian beat Welshman Geraint Thomas in a time trial by a single second and is back in first place in the general classification.

As the best time trialist in the Giro, Evenepoel was expected to dominate the opposition, but that was not the case. Runner-up Thomas was just one second slower, while his teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart finished third by two seconds.

"It's not the best time trial I've ridden"

With his second time trial victory in this Giro, Evenepoel has taken the pink jersey from Norwegian Andres Leknessund. He is now 45 seconds ahead of Thomas and 47 ahead of Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who lost 17 seconds in the general classification.

"It's not the best time trial I've ridden," Evenepoel said after the race. "But I am happy with the win and the fact that I have the pink jersey again."

Giro participants will get a day's rest on Monday, before the next stage on Tuesday. "The last two days were not my best. I will now focus on recovering," said Evenepoel. "And of course, I'm also going to enjoy this win."

^{© BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS}