10 speed Shimano road shifters (6703 or 5703, for example) and a long cage 9 speed MTB rear mech combined with an 11-34 10 speed MTB cassette can give you an epic gear range without big jumps. 30F/34R to 53F/11R. I've used this setup before, and it worked well
The 5703 and 6703 shifters are for triple chainsets, hence the 3. On my bike I was running an Ultegra FC6703 30/39/52 triple chainset and an 11-34 XT cassette. Deeply uncool, but an amazeballs gear spread.
10 speed Shimano road shifters (6703 or 5703, for example) and a long cage 9 speed MTB rear mech combined with an 11-34 10 speed MTB cassette can give you an epic gear range without big jumps. 30F/34R to 53F/11R. I've used this setup before, and it worked well