After a nice day in the breakaway, Simon Geschke won the group sprint and took a third place in today’s stage 9 at the Giro d’Italia, he also is the new leader in the mountain classification.

With more than 4000 altimeters it was another tough stage in Italy, as Geschke made the day’s break with 10 others.

At the front of the peloton, Astana Pro Team controlled the breakaway, and while the race was heading to the finale, the team increased the pace. An exciting finale followed.

Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team) escaped from the breakaway group on one of the final climbs. No one in the break was able to answer this attack and the Italian soloed to stage win. In the meantime, Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) got away as Geschke won the sprint of the chase group to a third place.

In the GPM sprint Geschke collected enough points to become the new leader in the mountain classification.

A delighted Geschke after the race said: “I am more than happy with today. Of course I would have loved to win the stage, but I have to be realistic. After my injury break I am not in my best shape ever so I am very satisfied with this result.

“During the race I wasn’t sure that we would make it to the finish so my first goal was to grab as much mountain points a possible.

“Now I have the blue jersey and I want to fight to keep it as long as possible. It’s a big honor for me to wear the mountain jersey in a Grand Tour.

Coach Adriaan Helmantel added: “The plan was to be in the break today with Simon, Chad, Tobias or Caleb. It was an extremely hard battle but after 50km 11 riders got away with Simon included. The lead never got more than 6 minutes advantage.

“Simon rode a strong race to a third place and the mountain jersey. We are very satisfied with the results as holding the jersey for at least one stage is already incredible.”