I guess this could be one of the shortest race reports in history. The riders reckoned the circuit was too iffy for racing, so they made a pact to restrict the action until the last couple of laps. The sprinters’ teams kept the “race” locked down until Mark Cavendish finished things off with the stage win.
Yep, the peloton finally finished about an hour behind schedule after a rider protest involving a go-slow and mid-race halt, an apology to the public from maglia rosa Danilo Di Luca and a final burst of speed.
Di Luca apologized to the public...and the racers basically got an extra day off to go with tomorrow's rest day.
It was a low-speed, high farce kind of a day, eventually giving Columbia-High Road a third successive stage win. But it was the ideal day for window shopping as the gruppo calmly meandered through the streets of Milano, checking out the designer couture in the super glamorous high fashion stores.
The Sforzesco Castle and Milan’s Duomo got a lot of aerial camera coverage as there was precious little happening down on the road.
To pick it up around one-third distance, there’s a lot of chatter going on. Michael Rogers is chewing the fat with Jens Voigt; Ivan Basso is cruising serenely in the middle of the front rank; Lance Armstrong and Danilo Di Luca look like they’re plotting, deep in conversation. The speed, like a police operation in a bad neighbourhood, goes down …… and further on down.
Six laps to go and everything comes to a complete halt. Di Luca gets some time with the microphone to speak to the fans. Lance Armstrong is up front looking cool; Cancellara is now shooting the breeze with Ivan Basso.
We're well past the start at this point in the story, but it's still a picture worth looking at.
Then … they’re off again. Slowly.
The riders had agreed together that it was too dangerous a circuit to race on – too many cobbles and tight corners - and so they were going ‘piano, piano’ at 32kms/h. Di Luca apologised to the fans for the lack of fireworks, but said they’d keep riding.
The Giro course director agrees to neutralise the stage, so no points on offer, and all the riders will get the same finishing time. It also seems that Lance Armstrong has been emailing the race organisers about the dodgy finish in Chiavenna, and was worried about the finishes in Bergamo and here in Milan.
To be fair to the riders, there did seem to be a fair number of pedestrians wandering about, cars parked on or right by the roads, and even a bike riding intruder. There’s also the usual urban road furniture, tram tracks and the lingering worry over what happened to Rabobank’s Pedro Horillo yesterday – the Spaniard is making progress today though, so things are looking up.
Moving the day on by about 90kms …
… basically, sweet f.a. has happened by the time the riders roll onto the penultimate circuit, except that the speed has gradually been ratcheted up. Columbia-High Road come to the front to keep things nice for Mark Cavendish. The riders at the back of the field are having to sprint out of the corners, finally, to stay in touch.
By the time they hear the bell for the tenth and final lap, the speed is more like a normal circuit race. SaxoBank, Columbia and Katusha are all up front.
Garmin-Slipstream fancy it for Tyler Farrar and load five guys at the head of affairs.
Further back, Astana and Lance Armstrong decide that they’ve had enough for the day and allow themselves to be distanced. There’s no need to worry as no time gaps will be counted.
10kms to go, and its little Tommy Voeckler (BBox Bouyges Telecom) who finally lights it up, but he doesn’t get far.
The sprinters’ teams keep it together, and Garmin lead under the red kite.
Columbia-High Road’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, celebrating his 22nd birthday (Many Happy Returns!) leads them to 500 metre mark. Mark Renshaw takes over and drops Cavendish off with 200 metres to go. Cav does the rest with an easy win, and then has a love in with his sprint train. It might have been a weird day, but a victory still counts, and Cav can now say he’s won a Giro sprint in Milan.
The second bunch – with the bulk of the favourites – wanders over the line a bloated two minutes plus after Cavendish.
So, that’s the day done, race wise. But don’t touch your dial, as the Pez himself will be checking in later, no doubt with news of a refreshing negroni or two!
Giro d’ Italia Stage 9 Results, Milano-Milano 1 Mark Cavendish (IoM) Columbia-High Road 4 hrs 13’ 13” 2 Allan Davis (Aus) QuickStep 3 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 4 Matt Goss (Aus) SaxoBank 5 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR 6 Robert Forster (Ger) Milram 7 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 8 Davide Vigano (Ita) QuickStep 9 Said Haddou (Fra) BBox Bouyges Telecom 10 Thomas Fothen (Ger) Milram same time
Giro Overall After Stage 9 1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR 37hrs 29’ 48” 2 Thomas Lovkvist (Swe) Columbia + 13” 3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Columbia + 44” 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana + 51” 5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank + 58” 6 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas + 1’ 14” 7 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team + 1’ 24” 8 Chris Horner (USA) Astana + 1’ 25” 9 Franco Pelizzotti (Ita) Liquigas + 1’ 35” 10 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d’ Epargne + 1’ 49”
Roadside St. 14 When you start each new Giro you understand you’re a year older. You feel a stranger to the village approach and for a moment ... More....
Professional cycling has, over the years, attracted only a few documentary film makers. A few, such as Jorgen Leth’s “A Sunday in Hell,” have even ... More....
I’m just digging out from a few days at the BMC training camp, and while I won’t be reporting on doing Jaeger-bombs and Redbulls with Cadel & George, ... More....
As the final Madison got underway the arena was packed to the rafters, all the talk of Six Days in crisis forgotten for now. The finale was ... More....
Six Day racing comes to Berlin for the 99th time on Thursday, 28th January, 2010 with the great tradition of winter track racing in Germany in a ... More....
American Classic spent the last couple of years reworking their line up and the 420 Aeros are the latest to leave the bench. Take a look at the new ... More....
A couple years in the making, Pez head up to see arguably the top custom builder on the planet. We hit Serotta's NY shop, take a peek at their ... More....
You’ve still got today and all of tomorrow to ‘git ‘er done! Your holiday shopping that is… and armed with the complete set of 4 gift guides ... More....
If the stocking's not full - somebody's not doing their job. Good thing we're here to help with a big ol' bag full of the kind of stuff we'd love to ... More....
Winter riding is almost upon us - except for you lucky Aussies - and that means less riding outdoors. But with an indoor trainer and a Netflix ... More....
Many ergogenic aids, both legal and illegal, have been touted as the magic bullet that will improve cycling performance. What about something that ... More....
Having goals is one of the important first steps in achieving your dreams. They can be small goals or they can be big goals, but without them you’ll ... More....
Is cycling your religion, or at least one of them? If so, you’re not alone. Many people define themselves as “spiritual,” even if they don’t practice ... More....
Post-Giro Roadside: I love Scotland; but there’s no Gazzetta in the morning, most of the coffee tastes like John Wayne brewed it beside the ... More....
Sunday July 20th 1969; that’s 40 years ago now but I remember it clearly as the day that I first became aware of professional bicycle racing – I was ... More....
Roadside Recap: As we make our merry way through the rounds of the PEZ Looks Back, Ed is up for his retrospective on the Tour that was. As the ... More....
Coming on four years ago, Saul Raisin was one of THE big things in US pro cycling. Top 40 in a hard Tour de Suisse and mountain king at the Tour de ... More....
The last time we spoke to Garmin's Steve Cozza was after the 2008 Paris - Tours; where he produced another solid performance from a consistent and ... More....
Just about to start his second season with Cervélo - thanks to strong Classic rides and his first Grand Tour finish, in the Giro - Englishman, Dan ... More....
In October, nine-time Tour de France rider Frankie Andreu announced that he would be Director Sportif of the Ohio-based KENDA Pro Cycling p/b ... More....
With so many (too many?) others looking back to best-of-2009 or decade highlights, why not look ahead? A new decade beckons, after all, so who better ... More....
We first talked with Lostende Bike Tours owner and avid cyclist Allan Reeves about his Pyrenees Cycling Challenge, from the Atlantic to the ... More....
So, riding in Texas is mostly flat, with only tumbleweeds and armadillos to avoid right? Well, not exactly. You see, Austin is situated in what’s ... More....
Roadside St. 14 When you start each new Giro you understand you’re a year older. You feel a stranger to the village approach and for a moment ... More....
Professional cycling has, over the years, attracted only a few documentary film makers. A few, such as Jorgen Leth’s “A Sunday in Hell,” have even ... More....
I’m just digging out from a few days at the BMC training camp, and while I won’t be reporting on doing Jaeger-bombs and Redbulls with Cadel & George, ... More....
Race report: Alejandro Valverde stayed upright to seal his Vuelta victory – the first Grand Tour win of his career. On such a short stage, ... More....
Race Report: Today David Millar won his 5th stage in all his Vuelta’s, he was given one of the swords that Toledo is famous for along with the ... More....
The loss of Franco Ballerini is not one that will be forgotten anytime soon. The sport's best are at a loss and two of the greatest riders of our ... More....
Updated! Hallelujah, they're racing in Qatar, and I just got back from celebrating with every other New Orleanian on Bourbon Street. There's ... More....
It was a dark Sunday morning in Italy when the news services announced that Franco Ballerini, ex-professional, former dual Paris-Roubaix winner and ... More....
The maracas shake, 'Cara mia, mine !' blasts from the PA. Bang! The little cannon fires and the hall fills with smoke. Yes, this is the right place, ... More....
When the K-Mart Classic of West Virginia stormed through the state in the mid-90s, it opened awareness as to just how great the bike riding is in ... More....
After riding the final 17 sectors of Paris-Roubaix yesterday, and typing to you with still swollen, sore, and blistered hands, I understand to my ... More....
![](javascript:showpic("http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/amclass/amc420alarge.jpg",900,698);)
![](javascript:showpic("http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/serotta/meilarge.jpg",2000,1244);)
