Steven Kruijswijk attacked free in the Giro d'Italia’s Stelvio stage today to Bormio. The team leader of Team LottoNL-Jumbo jumped when the Mortirolo began and made it to the big breakaway and with his work over the double Stelvio Pass, he moved to ninth overall.

Kruijswijk stayed clear until 11 riders joined him on the Umbrail Pass. He finished 12^th.

"This was a pretty hard day," said Kruijswijk said. "It was not planned to attack so early, but I wanted to anticipate the big favourites. I felt good at the start of the day and decided to attack. It costs a lot of energy, but at the end, I was in the good breakaway.”

On the second climb of the day, the Stelvio, the group broke and seven men remained. The breakaway aimed for the stage win.

"You know it's possible on such a day. It's not the case that the favourites give you 15 minutes of a lead, but you can often get away. I have yet to win a Giro stage in my career and I would like to. On such a day, as today, it is possible. "

On the descent of the Stelvio, Mikel Landa and Andrey Amador drove away, but at the foot of the next climb, Steven Kruijswijk was able to close the gap. On the Umbrail Pass, Kruijswijk attacked.

"Unfortunately, we did not have enough lead and I was not good enough to follow Landa when he contra attacked", he added.

“Certainly after last week, I wanted to try to gain some places. If you do not belong to the best five or six riders, you know that you have to try it differently.

"On a day like today it's hard to tell if you're good or bad. This was a heavy stage and there are more to come. The advantage is that these days are better for me than others."