Stage 12 of the 2009 Giro d'Italia took place on 21 May; the race concluded with Stage 21 on 31 May. The second half of the Giro began with a long and challenging individual time trial in Cinque Terre. It was in this time trial that Denis Menchov took the overall lead in the race. This was followed by a flat stage, after which most of the sprinters in the Giro withdrew from the race, as they did not figure to be in contention in the hilly and mountainous stages to follow.
The sixteenth stage was considered to be one of two queen stages, most difficult stages, of this Giro, as it contained many high mountain climbs and the Giro's most difficult summit stage finish. After the second rest day came an unusual stage, one that was very short in terms of sheer distance but on par with previous mountain stages in terms of difficulty. These stages were won by Carlos Sastre and Franco Pellizotti, respectively, who fought for the third step on the Giro's podium behind Menchov and previous race leader Danilo Di Luca. Though Sastre went on to win another stage, to Mount Vesuvius, it was Pellizotti who finished the Giro third overall.
The Giro concluded, as it had in 2008, with another individual time trial, this time in the city of Rome. Despite a dramatic and much-replayed crash in the stage's final kilometer, Menchov preserved his overall lead through this stage and thus, the conclusion of the Giro, winning his third career Grand Tour.
LegendJerseys appearing in the table on the left of the page indicate those worn by the cyclist during the particular stage, while those appearing in the table on the right of the page indicate those awarded to the cyclist after the stage. Denotes the leader of the General classification Denotes the leader of the Mountains classification Denotes the leader of the Points classification Denotes the leader of the Young rider classification s.t. indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the one receiving the time above him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
Stage 12 21 May 2009 — Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore, (individual time trial)
The first individual time trial (ITT) of the 2009 Giro was a difficult one, long with quite a lot of climbing. There were two categorized climbs on the course, a quick, intense descent between them and no flat stretches at all. Lance Armstrong, who rode the Giro for the first time in 2009, described the ITT as "wicked hard". Reigning Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara called it "crazy" and laughed when asked if he would be a contender for victory. Cancellara was in fact the only rider who was still in the race to this point who did not attempt the time trial, instead abandoning the Giro.
Many riders used normal road race bikes for this stage, as the course is highly atypical for a time trial, with roads that were not flat and straight. Most of those riders altered their road race bikes with the aerodynamic handlebars of a time trial bike, but some, including race leader Danilo Di Luca, did not. The climbs in the stage increased the overall chances for strong climbers who are relatively weak time trialists, such as Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni.
Acqua & Sapone rider Dario Andriotto set the early time to beat. After a while, Yuriy Krivtsov bested his time. Several different riders in succession then posted successively (but, in the first few cases, marginally) better times than the best time that had come before them. Alessandro Bertolini, David Millar, Marco Pinotti, Giovanni Visconti, Bradley Wiggins, and Stefano Garzelli were all briefly the stage leader after they crossed the finish line. Bertolini in particular was stage leader for about three minutes, as Millar started just behind him and barely beat his time.
The fourth- and second-to-last riders to leave the starthouse, Levi Leipheimer and Denis Menchov, put up the best rides of the day, with Menchov between 30 seconds and a minute better than Leipheimer at the three intermediate time checks, and 20 seconds better at the line for the stage win. Menchov's ride propelled him into the pink jersey, while Leipheimer narrowly missed taking enough time out of Di Luca to move past him in the general classification. Di Luca finished sixth on the stage.
A surprising rider to lose considerable time was three-time former world time trial champion Michael Rogers, who was almost three minutes off Menchov's winning time and slipped from third to sixth in the general classification. Reigning Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre was also unimpressive, 2'18" behind Menchov, but took advantage of Rogers' bigger misstep to move up to fifth overall.
Stage 12 result RiderTeamTime 1 1h 34' 29" 2 + 20" 3 + 1' 03" 4 + 1' 14" DSQ + 1' 27" DSQ + 1' 54" 7 + 1' 59" 8 + 2' 04" 9 + 2' 13" 10 + 2' 17"General classification after stage 12 RiderTeamTime 1 50h 27' 17" DSQ + 34" 3 + 40" DSQ + 2' 00" 5 + 2' 52" 6 + 2' 59" 7 + 3' 00" 8 + 4' 38" 9 + 5' 26" 10 + 5' 53"
Stage 13 22 May 2009 — Lido di Camaiore to Florence,
The riders got some respite in this short, flat stage. There were a few short hills in the first of the stage and one small categorized climb, but after the 60 kilometer mark the course did not so much as undulate, and a sprint finish was the result.
Three riders broke free of the peloton after — Mikhail Ignatiev, Leonardo Scarselli, and Björn Schröder. Their maximum advantage was 5'20", but the peloton had no trouble catching them. Ignatiev and Scarselli were absorbed with left to race, while Schröder fought on alone, being caught at around to go. Despite being seven riders deep in the bunch with under to go, Mark Cavendish was able to get a successful leadout from Edvald Boasson Hagen and Mark Renshaw to pick up his third stage win of the Giro. The leadout was so fast that only 21 riders had the same time as the stage winner — another 89, including each of the top ten in the General classification (GC), were eight seconds back. Cavendish actually missed the start of the stage, after becoming stuck in the race village due to his habit of lining up on the start of the race at the last minute to avoid press. He was picked up by a Rabobank team car, which was also running late, and brought back to the field by them. He went on to win the stage.
Stage 13 result RiderTeamTime 1 3h 48' 36" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 13 RiderTeamTime 1 54h 16' 01" DSQ + 34" 3 + 40" DSQ + 2' 00" 5 + 2' 52" 6 + 2' 59" 7 + 3' 00" 8 + 4' 38" 9 + 5' 26" 10 + 5' 53"
Stage 14 23 May 2009 — Campi Bisenzio to Bologna,
This was a hilly stage, with four categorized climbs on the course and a finish on a short (but categorized) climb as well. Pre-race analysis of the stage expected relentless attacks beginning from the first climb of the day, after .
Fourteen riders representing twelve teams broke away after . They stayed clear as a group through the four climbs on course before they started to splinter. Danilo Di Luca's LPR team drove the peloton most of the day, because the finish figured to favor Di Luca more than race leader Denis Menchov or the man in third, Levi Leipheimer. However, one team pulling at the front of the peloton proved to be no match for a 14-man breakaway working cohesively, and by the time the peloton reached the descent of the fourth climb, the last before the summit finish, it was clear the breakaway would not be caught. The breakaway was still twelve strong as it began the last climb of the day. Andriy Hryvko was the first to attack for the stage win, but he was caught well before the summit, and wound up finishing in the pink jersey group a minute behind the stage winner. The decisive attack came from Simon Gerrans, who no one could match, giving the Cervélo rider the stage win. Leipheimer and Ivan Basso were both dropped from the pink jersey group just before the summit of the climb and the end of the stage, losing three potentially valuable seconds to the other highly placed riders in the GC. Michael Rogers was a further three seconds back of Leipheimer and Basso, causing him to drop from sixth to seventh in the GC.
Stage 14 result RiderTeamTime 1 4h 16' 48" 2 + 12" 3 + 18" 4 + 24" 5 + 27" 6 + 36" 7 + 41" 8 + 1' 01" 9 + 1' 04" DSQ s.t.General classification after stage 14 RiderTeamTime 1 58h 33' 53" DSQ + 34" 3 + 43" DSQ + 2' 00" 5 + 2' 52" 6 + 3' 03" 7 + 3' 05" 8 + 5' 17" 9 + 5' 26" 10 + 6' 01"
Stage 15 24 May 2009 — Forlì to Faenza,
The peloton faced four categorized climbs in this stage, though none were considered difficult enough to be truly selective. Also on the profile were three uncategorized hills that simply were not as steep. With a flat section at the end of the stage, a breakaway finish was likely.
The day began with 16 riders from 14 teams breaking away, after about . They attained a maximum advantage of about six minutes, and race leader Denis Menchov's Rabobank team seemed content to let them go, since no real GC threat was posed: José Serpa was the best placed man in the break, ten minutes back of Menchov. For a while, it seemed that the stage would progress this way to its conclusion, with the breakaway up ahead and the peloton not really chasing very hard.
Things changed when Ivan Basso's team came forward on the third climb of the day to set a much faster pace in the peloton, and Basso himself attacked and came free, with only Stefano Garzelli holding his wheel. They caught some members of the morning breakaway, as that group also splintered, but were eventually themselves caught. Danilo Di Luca launched an attack on the fourth climb of the day, and for a time he and Menchov were clear of the other GC contenders, but they were also caught — the top seven in the GC were unchanged after this stage.
After the 16-man leading group began splintering, only two were left out front — Leonardo Bertagnolli and Serge Pauwels. For unclear reasons, Pauwels sat up (abandoned the breakaway attempt) in the final kilometers of the stage and left Bertagnolli to take the stage win uncontested. Pauwels joined two behind him who were chasing, as several riders who had been in the pink jersey group but were not overall threats had been allowed to attack on the way into the finish. The pink jersey group finished 1'56" behind the stage winner, with another 13 riders about 7 minutes back, and the majority of the field between 18 and 26 minutes back, after the peloton had been one cohesive group for close to two-thirds of the stage.
Stage 15 result RiderTeamTime DSQ 4h 18' 34" 2 + 54" 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 + 56" 6 + 1' 27" 7 + 1' 49" DSQ + 1' 51" 9 s.t. 10 + 1' 56"General classification after stage 15 RiderTeamTime 1 62h 54' 23" DSQ + 34" 3 + 43" DSQ + 2' 00" 5 + 2' 52" 6 + 3' 03" 7 + 3' 05" 8 + 5' 26" 9 + 6' 01" 10 + 6' 26"
Stage 16 25 May 2009 — Pergola to Monte Petrano,
This stage was extremely climbing-intensive, with three categorized high mountains, including a mountaintop finish with a very difficult gradient at Monte Petrano, and a smaller climb about a third of the way into the stage. It also had five short uncategorized hills. Following the alterations to Stage 10, this was also called the queen stage of the Giro.