SAN MARINO (AP) — Primoz Roglic of Slovenia won the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday as Italian cyclist Valerio Conti extended his overall lead after the individual time trial.
Roglic, who also won the opening individual time trial, was quickest on the rain-soaked 35-kilometer (22-mile) route from Riccione that had an uphill finish in San Marino — the only time this year that the Giro crosses into another country.
The 29-year-old Roglic was 11 seconds faster than Belgium cyclist Victor Campenaerts and one minute ahead of Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands.
Roglic had been more than five minutes behind Conti going into the time trial but moved into second overall, 1:50 behind the UAE Team Emirates cyclist, who had replaced Roglic in the overall lead after finishing second in Thursday's sixth stage.
Moreover, Roglic gained time on his rivals. British cyclist Simon Yates — one of the pre-race favorites — finished more than three minutes behind Roglic.
"It's a perfect performance in my mind. I did a good job," Roglic said. "I took it easy at the beginning and I gave it all at the end.
"It's nice to take some time over the other GC favorites but the Giro is far from over."
Nans Peters of France moved third overall, 2:21 behind Conti.
"It was very rainy for me but I stayed calm. My goal was to keep the Maglia Rosa so I'm very happy with the result," Conti said.
Vincenzo Nibali fared the best out of the rest of the pre-race favorites, finishing fourth on a day which saw only 12 riders finish within two minutes of the winner. The Italian is 3:34 behind Conti.
Monday is the race's first rest day before Tuesday's 10th stage, an entirely flat 145-kilometer route from Ravenna to Modena.
The Giro finishes in Verona on June 2.
