There were limited gains and losses in the overall race for the Giro d'Italia in Roccaraso on Sunday, but within those limited parameters, it was pre-race favorite Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo Visma) who struggled the most in terms of time.

In the toughest last kilometer, Kruijswijk fell back to the point where he lost 21 seconds to Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana ProTeam) and 7 seconds to two-time Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo).

The 2019 Tour podium finisher dropped from 8th to 11th, not a dramatic loss by any means. But losing time in the final stages of the climb was not the result Jumbo Visma coach Adi Engels had hoped for on Sunday.

"No, indeed," Engels said in comments released by the team after the stage. 'Of course, the day itself was good, except for the weather.'

"Then the last kilometer to the finish, which is usually explosive" -- usually a disadvantage for a "diesel" motor like Kruijswijk's -- "but after such a hard day, rather an easy day, I gave it my all on the last climb. ...... But after such a hard day, rather than an easy day, I gave it my all on the last climb .......

Immediately after the stage, Engels said he could not specify what had happened to Kruijswijk because he had not yet spoken to the top riders. Engels said that with a tough day like stage 9, he was hoping that the Jumbo-Visma leader would have the advantage on the final steep climb, both in terms of weather and climbing.

"Instead, what I saw in the results is that the last climb was too explosive for him.

On the plus side, Engels noted that the gap was still small and the road to Milan was still long.

"But this is not the best [scenario], especially mentally.

Overall, Engels recognized that for most of the peloton, the first rest day could not come soon enough after a very tough Giro opening first section, including three big mountain stages, several big moves, and the fastest road stage in Giro history. [These nine days were really hard and long, and even if the day spent on the bike wasn't that long, the travel afterwards was long as well.

"The group is looking forward to the rest day. They are very welcome."