9 days of exciting racing have seen the predicted script of this year's Giro d'Italia being turned upside down. Everybody expected Bradley Wiggins to be in pole position on the first rest day but instead the Brit now faces the unusual challenge of riding aggressively in the mountains to claw back the lost time to Vincenzo Nibali. And in wake of the two pre-race favourites, Cadel Evans and Michele Scarponi have gradually marked themselves out as much more than dangerous outsiders. CyclingQuotes takes a look back at the first 9 days of racing as we discuss what we have learnt in the first part of an intriguing Giro d'Italia.

At the pre-race press conferences big favourite Bradley Wiggins was keen to point out that the Giro d'Italia was a race much different from the Tour de France. While the Brit has certainly believed in his own words, he may have been surprised to realize just how true that pre-race assessment was.

The first 9 days of racing have been a far cry from the controlled proceedings of last year's Tour de France where Sir Bradley stamped his authority on the race on the first long time trial and since then set about dominating the race by an incredible display of might from his Sky team. On the contrary he has now seen by himself the tricky and unpredictable nature of the Giro and instead of anticipating the race's going the Sky leader has mostly been forced into the damage control.

The Sky team has mostly been able to save their captain who overcame early woes in stages 3, 6 and 9 to finish safely with his main rivals but the treacherous conditions of stage 4, 7 and 9 have clearly exposed a chink in the Brit's armour which has so far mostly gone unnoticed. Everybody knew that he could be challenged on the lumpy courses in the first week with its many short, steep climbs and technical descents, but few had predicted the Brit's extreme fear of the many treacherous and wet downhill sections.

Most had expected Wiggins to find himself in an early pole position at the end of the long time trial to Saltarra but his early time losses and a below-par performance in the race against the clock have moved him down into fourth 1.16 behind Nibali. For the first time since the 2011 Vuelta, the Brit is now in a position where he cannot hide behind his strong team but has to go on the offensive on his own.

No one can really write off Wiggins completely but it is hard to see the Brit bounce back from his current position. Only one time trial remains and the uphill profile of that stage makes it highly unlikely that the Brit will be able to take more than a minute back on Nibali on that occasion.

He has insisted repeatedly that all numbers suggest that he is even stronger than he was in July but his performances until now have done little to suggest that he is right. While his main weakness has certainly been his descending skills, it is important to remember that it was actually a climb and not a downhill section that saw him dropped on the roads to Pescara. In a similar fashion, he was the last of the pre-race favourites to get back to the front group when Nibali and Hesjedal went on the attack in stage 3.

Many have pointed out that he finished his time trial in grand fashion to come back from a modest 13th at the first time check to finish 2nd in Saltarra. It is certainly true that he performed much better in the second, non-technical part of the course than he did in the first, winding section but nothing can hide the fact that he was beaten by both Alex Dowsett and Tanel Kangert on the long flat stretch from the first to the second intermediate check where everybody would have expected him to crush the opposition. He did a good climb up to the finish line and was the second fastest on the final ascent but it does little to remove the impression of a Sky leader who is far cry from the man who crushed his opposition in an also very technical time trial early in last year's Tour.

Wiggins may have been haunted by bad luck and he may have been hampered by his poor descending but his bad luck seems to come as a consequence of his need to always catch up due to a lack of form. The Brit should probably be happy to end up on the podium in Brescia and it could be a very wise decision from the Sky management to relieve the in-form Colombian duo of Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Uran from their domestique duties. With a 9th and 12th in the long time trial, the South Americans have clearly exceeded expectations and we have not even entered their favoured terrain in the mountains. It is, however, unlikely that the British team will take away the leadership role from the home nation's biggest star.

Nibali in pole position

In complete contrast to Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali has not put a foot wrong in the first 9 days of racing. Already on the second day of racing he received a huge confidence boost when his Astana team only finished 14 seconds behind Sky in the team time trial and since then he has been on the top of his game on the numerous treacherous descents that have been littered throughout the course in the first week.

On day 7 he even tested his rivals on two occasions. First he joined a move by Michele Scarponi on an uphill section to put Wiggins under the first serious pressure and later he proved that he is the best descender of the overall contenders by putting in a gutsy attack on a wet downhill section. Too much eagerness saw him hit the ground and lose a perfect opportunity but he appeared to be in complete control and with plenty of energy throughout a very difficult day.

His 4th place in the race against the clock confirmed the major time trial improvements which have come as a consequence of a careful and thorough work with Specialized and which was already put on display in the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de San Luis. However, one should keep in mind that his result was mostly due to his formidable technical skills in the first part of the course while he was even beaten by a non-specialist like Scarponi in the second, flat part of the course and was slower than both Evans, Wiggins and Pozzovivo on the final climb up towards the finish.

Nibali could very well end up as the strongest in the mountains but a combination of bad luck and bad time trialling have seen all of his main rivals lose time in the first week of racing, and so he does not even need to be the best to win the race. Only Cadel Evans remains within a minute of the leader's jersey and to some extent Nibali can afford to just keep the Australian in check.

However, two dangers loom. Unlike Evans, Nibali has never done a grand tour without having a bad day at a crucial moment and if this happens once again, it could very well cost him the victory. He is usually able to defend himself in such bad moments but it would certainly be a good idea for his opponents to test him each and every day to exploit the moment of weakness that may occur. Furthermore, his Astana team is a far cry from the dominant squad that crushed the opposition in the Giro del Trentino and in yesterday's stage to Firenze, only Tanel Kangert was left to support the captain on the penultimate climb. Young Fabio Aru cracked in the rain, Fredrik Kessiakoff is still hampered by allergy in the spring and Paolo Tiralongo is hampered by a crash on the third day of racing. Up against the Sky trio of Wiggins, Henao and Uran, the Lampre duo of Scarponi and Niemiec and the consistent Evans, lack of team support could be his undoing.

Evans and Scarponi loom in the background

At the start of the Giro Cadel Evans and Michele Scarponi were described as solid outsiders who could take a podium spot but would be unlikely to challenge for the win. After 9 days of racing that has all changed.

Evans was a late addition to the list of GC contenders when his lack of racing kilometres saw him choose the Italian grand tour as a means to build up form ahead of the Tour de France. Despite repeated claims that he would try to take a top result in both grand tours, most were left with the impression that his main target remained July's race in France. Furthermore, his weak performances in the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Criterium International did little to suggest that he would be able to once again battle for the win in a grand tour and solid improvements in the Giro del Trentino did little to change that assessment.

Nonetheless, the Australian appears to be the rider he once was. Through a combination of stubbornness, aggressiveness and carefulness he has been able to survive the first 9 days of racing and it is a testament to his strength and abundance of energy that he has been able to take part in a number of sprints to find himself comfortable in the points jersey on the first rest day.

Evans still needs to claw back those 29 seconds from Nibali but 4 things suggest that he may be able to do just that. First of all Evans is usually one of the most consistent riders in the peloton and if he is spared any bad luck he very rarely has a complete off-day. As said above this is in sharp contrast to Nibali and so the Australian could suddenly find himself in the overall lead as a pure consequence of his level of consistency. Secondly, his background as a mountainbiker and extreme carefulness makes it very hard for Nibali to take back time on Evans on the descents or through a split in a flat stage. Thirdly, he is for once able to rely on some solid support in the mountains with Steve Morabito and especially Ivan Santaromita both showing solid form. And finally, Evans was - by far - the fastest on the final climb in the time trial which does everything to suggest that he is completely on top of his game. The BMC leader could very well emerge at the top of the podium when it was least expected.

Michele Scarponi gave plenty of signs in the early season that he was back to his best after a horrible 2012 season where he was never able to rediscover the sensations that saw him win the 2011 Giro (after the disqualification of Alberto Contador). A sudden drop in performance in the Giro del Trentino when he returned after a long training camp, moved him somewhat out of the grand picture and despite his impressive showing in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, he has been mostly overlooked in the build-up to the race.

The stage that was expected to compromise his hopes of finally riding over the finish line in the maglia rosa was the long time trial in his home Marche region. That stage is now behind the Lampre rider and while most expected him to lose minutes to Bradley Wiggins, he was a hugely surprising 10th. His time loss to the mighty Brit was only 43 seconds and he was only 14 seconds behind another specialist like Evans.

What is even more surprising is that he even beat the likes of Evans and Nibali on the long, flat stretch in the middle of the course and of the overall contenders only Wiggins was faster in a terrain that would usually see him lose plenty of time to almost all of his rivals. Furthermore, he was the 5th fastest on the final climb to the line only 1 second behind Nibali at the end of a effort that must certainly have taken its toll on the Italian non-specialist.

The time trial just completes the impression of a Lampre leader that is at his top of his game. Already the stage 2 team time trial gave an early indication of his level when his Lampre team finished a surprising 6th and since then he has been one of the strongest on the climbs.

He was right in the wheels of Hesjedal and Nibali when the duo went on the attack in stage 3 and he was the first to put Wiggins in trouble in stage 7 when he went on the attack with Nibali and Kiserloski in stage 7. His strength has not gone unnoticed and in Pescara Nibali pointed out that he had seen a very impressive Scarponi. Furthermore, he is part of a very strong team that could very well end up winning the teams classification with Przemyslaw Niemiec a very likely top 10 candidate himself and Jose Serpa and Simone Stortoni both at their very best.

One thing could deny Scarponi the overall win in Brescia and that was his bad luck in stage 3. Showing great attention the Italian had placed himself right in the front of the group on the final descent but Robert Gesink and Steven Kruijswijk had too much speed going into a corner and Scarponi's attempt to brake saw him hit the deck with his bike broken as a consequence. That crash luck cost him 44 seconds and he would now have been a comfortable 3rd 40 seconds behind Nibali, had it not been for his case of bad luck. He is now forced to attack but if the early indications prove to be true, he could very well emerge as the strongest in the mountains.

Disappointments for Hesjedal and Sanchez

Ryder Hesjedal had done little to hide the fact that he felt stronger than ever in the build-up to his title defence and when he bounced back from a disappointing team time trial by a gutsy attack in stage 3, indications were that he was right. Afterwards, he even declared that the stage had not even been hard.

Since then everything has been completely turned around. The Canadian was keen to point out that it was best to be at the front on the tricky descents in stage 3 and so it was a surprise to see the defending champion far behind when the peloton negotiated the tricky stage 7 into Pescara. Those indications of weakness were confirmed when he had a hugely disappointing time trial and the icing on the cake was his time loss in yesterday's wet stage to Firenze.

It is hard to believe that such a dramatic turnaround is not related to some kind of health issues as the Canadian is usually hugely consistent and one of the riders to just get stronger as the race goes on. He insists that his time trial was on par with his expectations and that his crisis yesterday was only due to a bad moment and not any kind of overall weakness.

If illness is the reason for his below-par performances he could recover and bounce back later in the race. With a hard mountain stage coming up already on Tuesday he could already be completely out of podium contention in less than 24 hours and it is hard to see him bounce back from three bad days in a row to suddenly climb with the best in tomorrow's stage. If his fortunes do not change, it would very well be a wise decision to leave the Giro early and instead focus on the Tour de France.

Another hugely consistent rider is Samuel Sanchez who is another one to just get better and better as a grand tour goes on. However, nothing has really suggested that the Spaniard is back to the level that saw him finish 3rd in the 2010 Tour de France and net him a podium result in the 2009 Vuelta. On the contrary, he seems to be on the back foot whenever the going gets tough and even though he has managed to limit his time losses, he is not really seen as a serious podium contender anymore.

There is no doubt that the longer, gradual climbs in the mountains will suit the Spaniard much better but his formidable technical abilities should have seen him right at the forefront in the lumpy stages in the first week. Instead, he has been far behind even on the descents and instead of going on the attacked in his favoured downhill sections he has always been on the defensive. Furthermore, he has been far behind whenever the favourites have attacked on the climbs and he was only 42nd in the first, technical part of the time trial in which he should have excelled (and his puncture cannot explain his huge time loss).

It would not be a surprise to see the Spaniard make steady improvements to finish comfortably in the top 10 but nothing suggests that he should be able to realize the objectives of a stage win and podium spot that saw him choose the Italian grand tour over the Tour and the Vuelta. His only opportunity could very well be a gutsy attack in the mountains but that would probably require him to lose a fair amount of time beforehand.

Pozzovivo ready to strike

Finally, one rider deserves a special mention. Until now Domenico Pozzovivo has flown under the radar but that will probably all have changed in less than 24 hours. The tiny Italian appeared to be in splendid condition in the Giro del Trentino but a crash left him with two broken ribs and a severely hampered build-up to the race. Nonetheless, he managed to bounce back only 2 weeks later to instigate the race-winning move in the Rund um den Finanzplatz to suggest that his form is still right at the top.

The treacherous descents and time trials of the first week have not suited the climber who finished 8th last year and took a stage win in the process. A bad team time trial and his weak descending skills have seen him lose plenty of time but indications are that he is at the top of his game. His time trial must have been a huge encouragement as he managed to finish 20th and unlike Evans, Scarponi and Nibali he was not favoured by the technical opening part. At the end of the effort he was even the third fastest on the final climb and only Evans and Wigins reached the top in a shorter time than the Ag2r climber.

His time loss of 4.05 is probably too much to recover and he has never really been a real winner candidate. Nonetheless, he could very well emerge as the stand-out performer in the mountains to take a stage win and move up into the overall top 5 and maybe even take a podium spot.

With no less than 4 summit finishes coming up in the 6 days of racing until the riders can enjoy their second rest day, we will know much more when the riders head down from the Galibier to once again take a day off. One thing is certain: Wiggins was right to say that it's going to be a hell of a race for the next two weeks.