2009 Giro d’Italia
The 2009 Giro d’Italia was the 92nd running of cycling’s Grand Tour. It was held from 9 to 31 May 2009, and marked the 100th year since the first edition of the race. Denis Menchov won the race, having taken the lead in a long time trial in stage 12. Lance Armstrong, who had recently returned from retirement, was considered an overall favorite.
About 2009 Giro d’Italia in brief
The 2009 Giro d’Italia was the 92nd running of cycling’s Grand Tour. It was held from 9 to 31 May 2009, and marked the 100th year since the first edition of the race. Denis Menchov won the race, having taken the lead in a long time trial in stage 12, and defended vigorously against attacks by his closest challenger, Danilo Di Luca, during the mountain stages of the final week. Lance Armstrong, who had recently returned from retirement, was considered an overall favorite. The Astana team did not include 2008 race champion Alberto Contador, who chose not to defend his championship. Cadel Evans was originally announced to be taking part in the Giro, but he publicly announced shortly afterward that he would not ride it, and accused RCS Sport of using his name to promote the event. Sprinters in the event included Mark Cavendish, Alessandro Petacchi, Allan Davis, Robert Filippo Hunter, Juan José Hörster, Tylerarrar, and Oscar Gatto. The Giro was raced on a unique path through Italy, taking the peloton to some historic cities and towns in Italian cycling. Riders protested during the ninth stage, a criterium in Milan. This protest was nominally about the overall safety conditions of the stage, and was sparked by life-threatening injuries sustained by Pedro Horrillo the day before. The 10th and the 16th stages were both called the race’s queen stage, as both contained multiple difficult mountain climbs.
Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the GIRO began with a peloton of 198 cyclists. Every city that hosted a start or finish in 2009 was the first that was visited in 2009, with the exception of Genoa, which was due to World War I and World War II, which meant this was the only 92nd Giro that had been in which Milan had been the city for years. The first stage was held in 1909, and the 2009 route was designed to commemorate the100th anniversary of the World WarI and WWI, though the first stage of that year was in Genoa. Three ProTour teams did not wish to participate, and were thus not invited: Cofidis, Euskaltel–Euskadi, and Française des Jeux. The 22-teams that took part were: Astana, Fuji–Servetto, and seven Professional Continental teams. The race was won by Astana’s Ivan Basso, who won the points classification, and finished ahead of Danilo DiLuca, who came in second, 41 seconds behind the winner, and won the mauve jersey as points classification winner. Contador and Evans both chose to focus on the Tour de France later in the season, and had their results stripped after becoming embroiled in doping scandals, and having theirResults stripped. Armstrong was expected to start the race after crashing out of stage 1 of the Vuelta a Castilla y León and breaking his collarbone.
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