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Cav' wins a snoozer in Milan as riders stage a slowly rolling strike
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What was supposed to be celebration of cycling in the heart of Milan turned into a bitter farce Sunday after riders angrily neutralized the 165km ninth stage for what they labeled a dangerous circuit.
Mark Cavendish gave Columbia-Highroad its third consecutive victory, but the protesting peloton only raced the final 10km as all sides started pointing fingers at one another.
A day after Spanish rider Pedro Horrillo plummeted nearly 150 feet into a ravine and spent the night in a medically induced coma, a week’s worth of nervous racing reached the boiling point for the rattled peloton.
Riders were already on edge about perilous descents and tight finishing circuits in stages seven and eight when they confronted Sunday’s 25-turn circuit, laden with parked cars, tram lines, narrow corners and uneven road surfaces.
2009 Giro d'Italia
- Stage 9: Milan circuit
- 125km (78 miles)
- Stage winner: Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad)
- Stage winner's average speed:38.6 kph (24.0 mph)
- GC leader: Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes)
- Points jersey: Di Luca
- Climber's jersey: Di Luca
- Team GC leader: Columbia-Highroad
- Most aggressive for the day: Not awarded
- Best young rider: Thomas Lovkvist (Columbia-Highroad)
- Previous stage winners/GC leaders:
- Stage 1: Team Columbia-Highroad/Cavendish
- Stage 2: Petacchi/Cavendish
- Stage 3: Petacchi/Petacchi
- Stage 4: Di Luca/Lovkvist
- Stage 5: Menchov/Di Luca
- Stage 6: Scarponi/Di Luca
- Stage 7: Boasson Hagen/Di Luca
- Stage 8: Sivtsov/Di Luca
- Up next: Stage 10
- Monday is an official rest day. The Giro resumes Tuesday with stage 10, a tough 262km (163-mile) mountain stage from Cuneo to Pinerolo. The route includes the Cat. 1 climbs of Mont Cenis and Sestriere and the Cat. 2 Pramartino only 8km from the finish. John Wilcockson wrote about Tuesday's stage 10 route earlier.
After getting a close-up look at the urban circuit on the first of 11 laps, top riders soon agreed that something should be done.
According to rider accounts after the stage, race leader Danilo Di Luca (LPR) and seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (Astana) were in agreement that the circuit was too dangerous for their tastes.
“We saw after the first lap that it was dangerous. All the ‘big’ agreed. Lance declared it was a circuit that shouldn’t be raced,” Italian rider Filippo Pozzato said on RAI television. “It turned into a big mess, because certain decisions shouldn’t be taken during the race.”
Tensions over the safety of Giro courses had been ratcheting up over the past several days.
Rider accounts on Twitter was filled with comments about the perilous finishes last week. Race organizer Angelo Zomegnan said Armstrong sent him two SMS messages expressing his views of race conditions.
Di Luca, wearing the race leader’s pink jersey, took the lead and prompted organizers to agree that no times would be taken.
“It was not a question of Di Luca or Armstrong, it’s a question of what was right for the group,” Di Luca said. “As the pink jersey, I spoke for all the riders. There were cars, there were tramlines, traffic circles, narrow. What we saw was very dangerous.”
The riders certainly had reason to beef. Cars were parked on the course, marked only by police tape. The circuit passed over numerous rail lines part of Milan’s famous tram system, had 25 turns and funneled from wide, two-lane segments into narrow corners.
The peloton was also rattled by Horrillo’s crash. The Spanish rider somersaulted 150 feet down into a ravine after crashing over a guardrail in Saturday’s stage, and it took organizers nearly 30 minutes to locate him.
“The fall yesterday of Horrillo really affected a lot of the riders,” said Ivan Basso (Liquigas). “It was Di Luca who was speaking to the race directors. This was our way to express our need to watch out for our safety.”
Angry reactions
Much to the dismay of organizers, not to mention tens of thousands of fans lining the course, the pack cycled leisurely around the circuit at a pace of 33 km/h (20.5 mph).
The, with six laps to go, Di Luca brought the peloton to a halt at the start-finish line, asked for a microphone, and explained the situation to the spectators, apologizing for the lack of action.
“I decided it was appropriate to speak to the public to express our views,” Di Luca said after the stage. “It wasn’t about me, or the team, or anyone else. I was in the pink jersey and I thought it was necessary for me to speak for the group.”
Di Luca’s explanation did not satisfy at least one fan — Mario Cipollini, who said the riders’ reluctance to race was “disrespectful” to the fans and tarnished the Giro’s image with the “whole world watching.”
Giro director Zomegnan was unhappy as well.
“We agreed to neutralize the times, but this is too much,” he said. “This is not doing the sport any favors. Do we have to cancel all the dangerous races in cycling? Do we cancel Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège? I hope that the riders have made their point and we can return to the spectacle after the rest day.”
Zomegnan also took a veiled shot at riders like Di Luca and Armstrong.
“I have respect for the riders, but the riders haven’t been respectful today to the Giro or the people of Milan,” Zomegnan said. “This circuit was explosive, full of bursts, and required you to get your ass off the seat. But it seems like certain riders who aren’t so young anymore didn’t want to do that. Today, the riders’ legs were shorter and their tongues grew.”
Armstrong didn’t speak with reporters after rolling across the line in Milan. Others, however, expressed support for the rider action.
“This is important that the riders stuck together on this,” said Damiano Cunego (Lampre). “We need to be able to express our interests.”
Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel agreed, saying the protest was an important demonstration by riders who are often at the mercy of race organizers and governing bodies.
“I’m happy to see that a group of key players in our sport did something. And they showed that they have power. That’s what our sport has been missing,” Bruyneel told reporters.
“I think this is a step in the right direction where riders and hopefully in the future teams could have a better and a stronger voice when its up to organizing our sport.”
Cavendish gets his win
Meanwhile, there was still a race, at least for the sprinters in the pack who didn’t want the chance to win in Milan pass by.
With three and a half laps to go the pace inched up, to 41 km/h (25.4 mph). A lap later the speed was a respectable 51 km/h (31.7mph). But there were no attacks, and with two laps to go it remained gruppo compatto. The average speed to that point was a distinctly poky 36.6 km/h (22.7 mph).
Even the clanging of the bell announcing the final lap failed to spur any attacks. Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) moved to the front to ramp up the pace after four hours of “racing,” and then Garmin-Slipstream moved forward.
A group containing the maglia rosa, meanwhile, called it a day and sat up to soft-pedal the final lap.
With 10km to go, the irrepressible Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) was first to break the racing boycott, shooting off the front. He was quickly retrieved, however, and Saxo, Columbia-Highroad and Garmin moved to the front.
Five kilometers from the line Garmin and Columbia were driving. LPR’s Alessandro Petacchi and Cavendish were lurking near the front, as was Garmin’s Tyler Farrar.
In the final kilometer Columbia’s Edvald Boasson Hagen (celebrating his 22nd birthday on Sunday) led Cavendish into the final 300 meters and the British speedster did not disappoint, taking the win in 4:16:13 — nearly an hour after the race had been expected to finish. The maglia rosa group rolled casually in more than two minutes later.
“I wanted to win a stage in this Giro. I had to make amends after I lost the sprint to Petacchi,” Cavendish said. “The team did a great job in the end and I’m really, really happy.”
The victory is the third consecutive for Columbia-Highroad and their fourth counting the team time trial.
Cavendish said it was important to at least make the final sprint despite the calls for protest.
“It’s always going to be dangerous in the city. It was expected,” Cavendish said. “A lot of people came out to watch us race today, so hopefully we gave them something with a good sprint at the end. It was important that we raced for the final. It was good that we came out on top.”
Doth they protest too much?
How common are these sorts of protests?
According to VeloNews’ editorial director John Wilcockson, protests over course safety are relatively rare.
He pointed out that in the 1978 Tour, during a half-stage to Valence d’Argen, riders protested against long and late transfers after the stage. They didn’t sprint and just walked across the line.
Individual rider protests are more common. David Millar protested a famously dangerous stage up the grueling Angliru climb at the Vuelta a España in 2002, stopping short of the finish line and removing his bib number to place it on the rain-slicked roads.
Riders have neutralized stages for other reasons, including the tribute to Fabio Casartelli’s death in the 1995 Tour. The pack did the same in the 1967 Tour, allowing Barry Hoban to ride away with the win a day after Tom Simpson died on Mont Ventoux.
Rider protests of late have been over what they viewed as overly aggressive treatment by police and drug searches. The ill-fated 1998 Tour was filled with fits and starts, with riders stopping on the road to Aix-les-Bains as the Festina Affaire unfolded.
So far through this Giro d’Italia, Italy’s famed drugs police – NAS – have been quiet.
