Lidl-Trek's Mathias Vacek continued to be one of the riders of this year's Giro d'Italia on the gravel stage 9 to Siena, producing an almighty bridge across to the front group in the final 40km, before ultimately being dropped by new pink jersey, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and stage winner Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Vacek found himself in the second group on the road as the chaos unfolded after a big crash on the second of five gravel sectors, which he got caught behind, but attacked away 34km from the finish with Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), before making contact with the leaders 10km later.
