Belkov solos to win as Wiggins, Hejedal suffer

MILAN (AFP) –

British Sir Bradley Wiggins rides during the 55.5kms eigth stage of the 96th Giro d’Italia time trial from Gabicce Mare to Saltara on May 11, 2013 in Saltara, Italy.

Bradley Wiggins struggled again on a dramatic rain-drenched ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia Sunday that saw Canada’s defending champion Ryder Hesjedal lose time to overall leader Vincenzo Nibali.

Katusha rider Maxim Belkov took the honours after leaving his companions from an early breakaway behind in the latter stages of the 170km ride from Sansepolcro to Florence.

For 28-year-old Russian Belkov, who hails from Izhevsk — famous for the production of Kalashnikov rifles — it was the first major victory of a career which began in 2009.

He said: “With the rain I knew I could make the difference.

“This is the first win of my career, I dedicate it to my team.

“At the start of the year we were having trouble obtaining our World Tour licence but with each race we are proving that we deserve to be here.”

Belkov finished 44sec ahead of Carlos Betancur (Ag2r), who mistakingly raised his arms in victory as he crossed the line. The peloton containing all the overall victory favourites came over the finish 1:03 behind.

The real drama, however, was going on in the Russian’s wake.

Astana team leader Nibali retained the race leader’s pink jersey but a day after losing only 11secs to Wiggins in a 54.8km time trial the Italian saw Wiggins struggle on the wet and slippery descent of the race’s first category one climb, the Vallembrosa.

The Briton was left trailing and had to be paced back to the main peloton during a frantic 20km pursuit by three of his Sky teammates.

In the end Wiggins lost no time to his key rivals but revealed another chink in his armour which, during his triumphant Tour de France campaign, was virtually impregnable.

The day’s biggest loser was Garmin team leader Hesjedal, who struggled late in the stage and, after losing over one minute to his rivals, dropped from sixth overall to 11th to sit 3:11 behind Nibali.

Sunday’s hilly course was staged on much of the route which will be used for the world road race championships in Tuscany later this year.