Fabio Aru (Astana) gained a second over Alberto Contador as he sprinted for 10th place in stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia. Furthermore, he gained more time on Rigoberto Uran who is now more than 2 minutes behind the Italian.

“Paolo’s win today was very big emotion, I couldn’t be happier if I had won myself. I was almost in tears," he said about his teammate Paolo Tiralongo's victory. “The team was exceptionally strong today. Landa did incredible work today, he’s a real champion.

“Porte wasn’t collaborating at first, but then we convinced him because we explained that we could all gain on Uran, and after that we worked hard.

“My own sprint at the end wasn’t to gain time, it was more about honouring this stage finish. It’s important to excite the fans, because all of Italy has been very close to me this week. I’ve seen my name written on the road in so many places, in every region we’ve gone through. So I think it’s important for me to give something back to this public and I’m trying to do that.”