Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) started the ninth day of racing at the Giro d'Italia Women slotted into third on the general classification. She was 1:20 behind maglia rosa Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and another 31 seconds behind Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ). The formidable veterans were as much of a mountain to blast past as the three categorised ascents on stage 9.
With a strong downhill acceleration after the first, and longest, climb of the day, she was the virtual GC leader on the road Sunday, finding herself at the front of the race with Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and under 99km to go. The trio had two minutes on Van der Breggen and Vollering.