Stage 9

The road

At the start

Nine seconds, and a sting in the finish

Domenico Pozzovivo's win at Lago Laceno has pulled Joaquim Rodríguez to within nine seconds of Ryder Hesjedal's maglia rosa, with Tiralongo at fifteen and Kreuziger at thirty-five. Daniele Bennati does not start. Today is nominally for the sprinters, a hundred and seventy-seven kilometres to Frosinone — except that the road stands up inside the last five, which is exactly the finish Rodríguez has built a career on.

How it was won

1. 1117 km to go

   Three men and four minutes

   Cazaux, Bulgac and Keizer go clear and are given four minutes, which is exactly as much as a bunch full of sprinters intends to give anybody on a day like this.

2. 220 km to go

   Keizer's legs go

   Twenty kilometres out the last man standing from the break starts to buckle, and everybody turns to look at the short, sharp climb inside the final five kilometres.

3. 37 km to go

   Rodríguez lights it up

   Seven kilometres from Frosinone the man sitting nine seconds off the maglia rosa attacks. Rodríguez takes three riders with him, kicks again once he has fifty metres, and puts half the peloton into a panic — until the gradient turns out to be too gentle and the sprinters' teams reel him back.

4. 4At the line

   Carnage at the last corner

   Goss takes the last left-hander wide and safe; Filippo Pozzato, caught out, slides into him and across the road. Cavendish and Renshaw check, Haedo loses it, and the world champion goes down in the aftermath. Ahead of the wreckage Francisco Ventoso comes off Nizzolo's wheel to win, with Felline second.

The result